SSHB 449: "An Act relating to requiring certain employers to provide health insurance or contribute to the fair share health care account for the purpose of supporting state medical assistance programs; and providing for an effective date."
00 SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 449 01 "An Act relating to requiring certain employers to provide health insurance or 02 contribute to the fair share health care account for the purpose of supporting state 03 medical assistance programs; and providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 23.10 is amended by adding new sections to read: 06 Article 9. Fair Share Health Care. 07 Sec. 23.10.700. Employer payments. (a) An employer that is organized as a 08 nonprofit organization that spends less than eight percent of the amount of total wages 09 paid to employees of the nonprofit organization in the state for health insurance for its 10 employees shall pay to the department an amount equal to the difference between what 11 the employer spends for health insurance costs and eight percent of the total wages 12 paid to employees of the nonprofit organization in the state. 13 (b) An employer that is not organized as a nonprofit organization and spends 14 less than 10 percent of the amount of total wages paid to its employees in the state for
01 health insurance for those employees shall pay to the department an amount equal to 02 the difference between what the employer spends for health insurance costs and an 03 amount equal to 10 percent of the total wages paid to its employees in the state. 04 (c) The provisions of AS 23.10.700 - 23.10.749 apply only to employers with 05 more than 2,000 employees in the state. 06 (d) An employer shall make the payment required under this section to the 07 department on a periodic basis as determined by the department. 08 (e) An employer may not deduct a payment made under (a) or (b) of this 09 section from the wages of an employee. 10 (f) The payments received under (a) and (b) of this section shall be deposited 11 in the fair share health care account established by AS 23.10.705. Under 12 AS 37.05.146(c), these payments shall be accounted for separately, and appropriations 13 from that account are not made from the unrestricted general fund. 14 Sec. 23.10.705. Fair share health care account created. (a) The fair share 15 health care account is created in the general fund. The account consists of payments 16 received by the department under AS 23.10.700 - 23.10.749 and money received from 17 any other source. 18 (b) The legislature may appropriate from the fair share health care account to 19 help finance medical care for uninsured persons by supporting the state Medicaid 20 program or through other state programs helping uninsured persons and their 21 dependents obtain health care or health care coverage, or for other purposes. 22 Sec. 23.10.710. Records and calculations. (a) On January 1 of each year, an 23 employer with more than 2,000 employees in the state shall submit, on a form and in 24 the manner approved by the department, 25 (1) the employer's definitions of full-time employee and part-time 26 employee; 27 (2) the number of full-time and part-time employees of the employer in 28 the state on January 1 of the previous year; 29 (3) the number of full-time and part-time employees eligible to receive 30 health insurance benefits and the number of full-time and part-time employees 31 receiving health insurance benefits during the year immediately preceding the
01 previous calendar year; 02 (4) the amount spent by the employer in the previous calendar year on 03 health insurance costs during the year immediately preceding the previous calendar 04 year; and 05 (5) the percentage of payroll for employees in the state that was spent 06 by the employer on health insurance costs during the year immediately preceding the 07 previous calendar year. 08 (b) The information provided by the employer shall be 09 (1) provided by the employer's principal executive officer or an 10 individual performing a similar function; and 11 (2) be sworn to, by affidavit, under penalty of perjury asserting that the 12 information was reviewed by the signer and is true and complete to the best of the 13 signer's knowledge. 14 (c) When calculating the percentage of total wages paid to employees in this 15 state under (a) and (b) of this section, an employer may exempt wages paid to an 16 employee 17 (1) whose wages from that employer exceed the median household 18 income by family size in the state as published by the United States Bureau of the 19 Census; or 20 (2) who is enrolled in or eligible for Medicare. 21 Sec. 23.10.715. Penalties. If an employer fails 22 (1) to report as required by AS 23.10.710, the department shall impose 23 a civil penalty of $250 for each day that the report is not timely and completely filed; 24 (2) to make the payment required under AS 23.10.700, the department 25 shall impose a civil penalty of $250,000. 26 Sec. 23.10.720. Department report to legislature and regulatory authority. 27 (a) On or before January 30 of each year, the department shall report to the governor 28 and to the legislature 29 (1) the name of each employer with 2,000 or more employees in the 30 state; 31 (2) the employer's definitions of full-time and part-time employee;
01 (3) the number of full-time and part-time employees; 02 (4) the number of full-time and part-time employees eligible to receive 03 health insurance benefits; 04 (5) the number of full-time and part-time employees receiving health 05 insurance benefits from the employer; and 06 (6) the source of health insurance benefits for those eligible employees 07 not receiving health insurance benefits through an employer subject to reporting under 08 AS 23.10.710. 09 (b) The department may adopt regulations to implement AS 23.10.700 - 10 23.10.749. 11 Sec. 23.10.749. Definitions. In AS 23.10.700 - 23.10.749, 12 (1) "employee" has the meaning given in AS 23.10.699; 13 (2) "employer" has the meaning given in AS 23.10.699, but does not 14 include the federal government, the state, another state, or a political subdivision of 15 the state or another state; 16 (3) "health insurance costs" means the amount paid by an employer to 17 provide health care or health insurance for its employees in the state to the extent the 18 costs may be deducted by an employer under federal tax law; in this paragraph, 19 "amount paid" includes payments for medical care, dental care, vision care, 20 prescription drugs, medical savings accounts, and any other costs to provide health 21 care benefits. 22 * Sec. 2. AS 37.05.146(c) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 23 (81) receipts received for the fair share health care account 24 (AS 23.10.705). 25 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect December 31, 2009.