LONG BEACH – On June 18, business leaders based in Long Beach and the South Bay areas expressed their opposition to Assembly Bill 880 — a piece of pending legislation introduced by Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez (D-East Los Angeles).
AB 880 is seen by its supporters as a measure that would address a so-called flaw of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, which goes into effect on January 2014.
The bill is intended to prevent businesses with at least 500 employees from avoiding paying health care benefits by cutting their employees’ work hours.
Dubbed as the “Wal-Mart Loophole,” the people who fall through this gap would end up having their medical costs shouldered by the state’s Medi-Cal program.
However, business leaders, who were present at the press briefing on Tuesday, called on legislators to oppose AB 880, claiming that the proposed law would “harm the region’s economic recovery in addition to nearly every industry in California, including manufacturing, construction, tourism, restaurants, and more.”
Their thinking is that AB 880 would force severe financial penalties on employers, who employ part-time workers (including seasonal workers ) that work eight hours a week or more at a time.
The business sector representatives claimed that the legislation would have far-reaching consequences and would limit job growth. They also believe that AB 880 – which they have come to call a double health tax legislation – would further harm local recovering economies.
“AB 880 will financially penalize these business that hire part-time and seasonal workers, leading to lost jobs, ultimately hurting our families, and depressing our economy even further,” PEAR Strategies partner Weston Labar said.
Labar said that the legislation is being opposed by “nearly every industry” in California as “it will not help increase access to health care or provide health care to one additional person.”
He called AB 880 as a “special interest-driven” bill that would hurt job creators across the state.
Torrance Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Coordinator Brian Rosario said that while the Torrance Chamber supports the improvement of the health care system and increasing access to health care for many Californians, the groups believe that this should not come at the expense of businesses and their employees.
“AB 880 will not provide one single person health care coverage. It will only increase the cost to California businesses struggling to pull out of this bad economy,” Rosario said.
He also reiterated that working families would be hurt by the proposed law as it would discourage companies from hiring part-time and seasonal workers. Furthermore, keeping these part-time and seasonal workers out of employment would deny them the job training and experience they need to stay relevant in the work force, Rosario added.
Rosario criticized AB 880 for “unfairly punishing” employers, who offer health care coverage but whose employees still elect to use Medi-Cal. He summarized AB 880 as a “work to welfare legislation” as it puts people out of work.
“We encourage our legislators to oppose it,” he emphasized.
Amado Hernandez of the Latin Business Association said that the provisions in AB 880, which affect part-time and seasonal workers, would decimate California’s key industries and businesses, placing workers and families at risk of losing their jobs.
“Our communities are seeing a very slow growth of local economies, and this growth is tied to the recovery of tourism, construction, manufacturing, and other industries that this bill will cripple,” Hernandez explained.
Hernandez pointed out that the penalties of AB 880 on employers who hire part-time employees will be “five-to-six times larger” than the federal fines already imposed by Obamacare.
LA County Business Federation (BizFed) Chief Executive Officer Tracy Rafter said that businesses and companies cannot withstand the additional burden of AB880’s penalties.
“Simply put, this additive and duplicative burden on businesses adds more confusion… The penalties and disincentives during this critical time as we implement the Affordable Care Act cannot be sustained,” Rafter said.
Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Gordon said that the AB 880 will have a chilling impact on California businesses.
“AB880 is essentially a double tax on employers. Employers already pay taxes that help fund Medi-Cal, but special interests in Sacramento do not think that’s enough.
“This legislation will mandate a new costly government program on top of the federal Affordable Care Act, forcing severe financial penalties on employers who employ part-time or seasonal workers who work a minimum of eight hours a day,” Gordon lamented.
According to Rafter, business associations across California are already engaging the public through media outreach, encouraging Californians to fight the proposed legislation.
“More importantly, we’re making calls and sending emails to our lawmakers, and making sure they know how we feel about this,” Rafter said.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend June 22-25, 2013 Sec B pg.7)
