Bill Text: CA AB1792 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public benefits: reports on employers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 889, Statutes of 2014. [AB1792 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB1792-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1792	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 1, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gomez

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2014

   An act to  amend Section 1088.5 of the Unemployment
Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance, and making an
appropriation therefor   add Section 13084 to the
Government Code, and to add Section 2110.9 to, and to add Division 11
(commencing with Section 19000) to, the Unemployment Insuran 
 ce Code, relating to public benefits  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1792, as amended, Gomez.  Unemployment contributions:
  Public benefits:  reports  on employers 
. 
   Existing law establishes various health programs under which
low-income persons are provided health care services. These programs
include the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State
Department of Health Care Services.  
   This bill would require the Employment Development Department to
collaborate with the State Department of Health Care Services, the
State Department of Social Services, and the State Department of
Education to identify and compile a list of employers of a
beneficiary in this state who is enrolled in the above-described
public assistance programs. The bill would define an employer as an
individual or type of organization that employs for wages or salary
25 or more persons to work in this state. The bill would require the
Employment Development Department to provide this list to the
Department of Finance and would require the Department of Finance to
collaborate with the Employment Development Department to determine
the total cost to the state of the benefits provided to each
identified employer's employees under each public assistance program
and the total cost to the state of the aggregated benefits provided
to each identified employer's employees. The bill would require the
Employment Development Department to prepare a report with this
information and provide it to the Department of Finance.  
   The bill would also require the Department of Finance to, after
collaborating with the Employment Development Department, annually
transmit to the Legislature and post on the department's Internet Web
site the report no later than April 15 of each year.  
   The bill would provide that an employer who discharges or
discriminates or retaliates against an employee who enrolls in a
public assistance program, as defined, or refuses to hire a
beneficiary of a public assistance program would be in violation of
specified provisions subject to criminal penalty. By creating a new
crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 

   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.  
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.  
   Existing law requires each employer to file with the Employment
Development Department specified information on new employees.
Existing law authorizes the department to assess a penalty of $24 for
a failure to report the hiring of an employee, or $490 if the
failure to report is the result of conspiracy between the employer
and the employee not to supply the required report or to supply a
false or incomplete report.  
   This bill would change these penalty amounts to $23 and $499,
respectively. This bill would increase the amount of that penalty and
thus, the moneys deposited into the Employment Development
Department Contingent Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, thereby
making an appropriation. 
   Vote:  2/3   majority  . Appropriation:
 yes   no  . Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program:  no   yes  .


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    (a) The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:  
   (1) In 2013, California had the highest number of working poor
families in the country. More than one-third of the state's working
families are low-income, making less than 200 percent of the federal
poverty line.  
   (2) When low wages and a lack of benefits leave workers unable to
make ends meet, they turn to public assistance programs for health
care, healthy food, and other basic necessities.  
   (3) Employers that pay low wages and offer no benefits shift the
burden of keeping workers out of poverty onto taxpayers.  
   (4) State public assistance programs are crucial to keeping
Californians out of deep poverty by providing income supports, health
care, and food.  
   (5) The increase in the numbers of the working poor stretches the
state safety net to the limit and burdens the state budget, programs,
and services.  
   (6) The Legislature continues to address the issues of a living
wage and the availability of affordable health coverage while
developing sound budget and programmatic priorities.  
   (7) To promote a deeper understanding of the causes and sources of
underemployment, poverty level wages, and the economic impacts on
Californians and the state budget, it is appropriate for policymakers
to possess a broader set of empirical data with which to make
informed decisions.  
   (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of
the following:  
   (1) Produce a report on employers that have employees enrolled in
public assistance programs and on the cost to the state of providing
those benefits.  
   (2) Use the report to analyze those employers that create the
greatest burden on the state by having the largest numbers of workers
enrolled in public assistance programs.  
   (3) Develop policies to decrease the number of working poor in
California by increasing the quality of jobs and employment
opportunities for Californians.  
   (4) Use the data contained within the report to promote sound and
reasonable policies to ensure that employers do not shift the
responsibility for providing health care and basic necessities for
their workers onto taxpayers through the use of the data contained
within the report to develop reasonable and sound policies. 

   (5) Ensure that no worker is discriminated or retaliated against
for the reason of being enrolled in a public benefit program. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 13084 is added to the  
Government Code   , to read:  
   13084.  (a) The department shall, after collaborating with the
Employment Development Department, annually transmit to the
Legislature and post on the department's Internet Web site no later
than April 15 of each year, the report described in Section 19001 of
the Unemployment Insurance Code. The report shall be submitted to the
Legislature pursuant to Section 9795.
   (b) The report shall remain available to the public on the
department's Internet Web site for at least five years.
   (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize an
employer to discourage or prevent an employee from enrolling or
continuing enrollment in a public benefit program while employed nor
to discriminate against an applicant for employment or employee for
applying to be or being enrolled in a public assistance program.
   (d) The department shall be permitted access to and be provided
data and information from other state agencies as required to
implement this section, to the extent not prohibited by state and
federal confidentiality statutes and regulations. The department may
enter into interagency agreements or adopt regulations as are
reasonably necessary to implement this section. 
   SEC. 3.    Section 2110.9 is added to the  
Unemployment Insurance Code   , to read:  
   2110.9.  (a) For purpose of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
   (1) "Beneficiary" shall have the same meaning as in Section 19000.

   (2) "Employer" shall have the same meaning as in Section 19000.
   (3) "Public assistance program" shall have the same meaning as in
Section 19000.
   (b) An employer who discharges or in any manner discriminates or
retaliates against an employee who enrolls in a public assistance
program or refuses to hire a beneficiary for reason of being enrolled
in a public assistance program, is in violation of this chapter.

   SEC. 4.    Division 11 (commencing with Section
19000) is added to the   Unemployment Insurance Code 
 , to read:  

      DIVISION 11.  Employers With Employees That Receive Public
Benefits


   19000.  For purposes of this division, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Beneficiary" means an individual who is all of the following:

   (1) Enrolled in a public assistance program, unless the individual
is enrolled by reason of disability or being over 65 years of age.
   (2) Employed by an employer.
   (b) "Department" means the State Department of Health Care
Services, the State Department of Social Services, and the State
Department of Education.
   (c) (1)  Except as provided in paragraph (2) "employer" means an
individual or type of organization that employs for wages or salary
25 or more persons to work in this state and includes all of the
members of a controlled group of corporations, as defined in Section
1563(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, except that "more than 50
percent" shall be substituted for "at least 80 percent" each place it
appears in Section 1563(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, and the
determination shall be made without regard to Sections 1563(a)(4) and
1563(e)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code.
   (2) "Employer" does not include a state, city, county, city and
county, district, or any other governmental employer.
   (d) "Public assistance program" means the Medi-Cal program
(Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code), CalFresh (Chapter 10 (commencing
with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code), CalWORKS (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code),
and the Women, Infants, and Children program (Article 2 (commencing
with Section 123275) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the
Health and Safety Code).
   19001.  (a) The Employment Development Department shall, to the
extent not prohibited by state and federal confidentiality and
privacy statutes and regulations, collaborate with a department to
identify and compile a list of employers of a beneficiary in the
state, that includes all of the following:
   (1) The employer's name.
   (2) The employer's address, as filed with the Employment
Development Department.
   (3) The total number of each employer's employees who are
beneficiaries.
   (b) The Employment Development Department shall provide the list
described in subdivision (a) to the Department of Finance. The
Department of Finance, in collaboration with the Employment
Development Department, shall determine both of the following:
   (1) The total cost to the state of the benefits provided to each
identified employer's employees under each public assistance program.

   (2) The total cost to the state of the aggregated benefits
provided to each identified employer's employees.
   (c) The Employment Development Department shall, to the extent not
prohibited by state and federal confidentiality and privacy statutes
and regulations, prepare and provide to the Department of Finance a
report that includes the information described in subdivisions (b)
and (c).
   (d) The list and the report shall not include the names or any
identifying information of any individual beneficiary under a public
assistance program and shall be subject to all state and federal
confidentiality and privacy laws and regulations. 
   SEC. 5.    No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 1088.5 of the Unemployment
Insurance Code is amended to read:
   1088.5.  (a) In addition to information reported in accordance
with Section 1088, effective July 1, 1998, each employer shall file,
with the department, the information provided for in subdivision (b)
on new employees.
   (b) Each employer shall report the hiring of any employee who
works in this state and to whom the employer anticipates paying
wages, and also shall report the hiring of any employee who
previously worked for the employer but had been separated from that
prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days.
   (c) (1) This section shall not apply to any department, agency, or
instrumentality of the United States.
   (2) State agency employers shall not be required to report
employees performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions,
if the head of the agency has determined that reporting pursuant to
this section would endanger the safety of the employee or compromise
an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission.
   (d) (1) Employers shall submit a report as described in paragraph
(4) within 20 days of hiring any employee whom the employer is
required to report pursuant to this section.
   (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), employers transmitting
reports magnetically or electronically shall submit the report by two
monthly transmissions not less than 12 days and not more than 16
days apart.
   (3) For purposes of this section, an employer that has employees
in two or more states and that transmits reports magnetically or
electronically may designate one state in which the employer has
employees to which the employer will transmit the report described in
paragraph (4). Any employer that transmits reports pursuant to this
paragraph shall notify the Secretary of Health and Human Services in
writing as to which state the employer designates for the purpose of
sending reports.
   (4) The report shall contain the following:
   (A) The name, address, and social security number of the
employees.
   (B) The employer's name, address, state employer identification
number (if one has been issued), and identifying number assigned to
the employer under Section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

   (C) The first date the employee worked.
   (5) Employers may report pursuant to this section by submitting a
copy of the employee's W-4 form, a form provided by the department,
or any other hiring document transmitted by first-class mail,
magnetically, or electronically.
   (e) For each failure to report the hiring of an employee, as
required and within the time required by this section, unless the
failure is due to good cause, the department may assess a penalty of
twenty-three dollars ($23), or four hundred ninety-nine dollars
($499) if the failure is the result of conspiracy between the
employer and employee not to supply the required report or to supply
a false or incomplete report.
   (f) (1) On and after January 1, 2013, and before January 1, 2019,
information collected pursuant to this section may be used for the
following purposes:
   (A) Administration of this code, including, but not limited to,
providing employer or employee information to participating members
of the Joint Enforcement Strike Force on the Underground Economy
pursuant to Section 329 for the purposes of auditing, investigating,
and prosecuting violations of tax and cash-pay reporting laws.
   (B) Locating individuals for purposes of establishing paternity
and establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations.

   (C) Administration of employment security and workers'
compensation programs.
   (D) Providing employer or employee information to the Franchise
Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization for the purpose of tax
or fee enforcement.
   (E) Verification of eligibility of applicants for, or recipients
of, the public assistance programs listed in Section 1320b-7(b) of
Title 42 of the United States Code.
   (F) Providing employer or employee information to the Contractors'
State License Board and the State Compensation Insurance Fund for
the purpose of workers' compensation payroll reporting.
   (G) Providing employer or employee information to the State
Department of Health Care Services, the California Health Benefit
Exchange, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and county
departments and agencies for the purpose of:
   (i) Verifying or determining the eligibility of an applicant for,
or a recipient of, state health subsidy programs, limited to the
Medi-Cal program, provided pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, the Healthy Families Program, provided pursuant to
Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693) of Division 2 of the
Insurance Code, and the Access for Infants and Mothers Program,
provided pursuant to Part 6.3 (commencing with Section 12695) of
Division 2 of the Insurance Code, where the verification or
determination is directly connected with, and limited to, the
administration of the state health subsidy programs referenced in
this clause.
   (ii) Verifying or determining the eligibility of an applicant for,
or a recipient of, federal subsidies offered through the California
Health Benefit Exchange, provided pursuant to Title 22 (commencing
with Section 100500) of the Government Code, including federal tax
credits and cost-sharing assistance pursuant to the federal Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, (Public Law 111-148), as amended
by the federal Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(Public Law 111-152), where the verification or determination is
directly connected with, and limited to, the administration of the
California Health Benefit Exchange.
   (iii) Verifying or determining the eligibility of employees and
employers for health coverage through the Small Business Health
Options Program, provided pursuant to Section 100502 of the
Government Code, where the verification or determination is directly
connected with, and limited to, the administration of the Small
Business Health Options Program.
   (2) On and after January 1, 2019, information collected pursuant
to this section may be used for the following purposes:
   (A) Administration of this code.
   (B) Locating individuals for purposes of establishing paternity
and establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations.

   (C) Administration of employment security and workers'
compensation programs.
   (D) Providing employer or employee information to the Franchise
Tax Board and to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of
tax or fee enforcement.
   (E) Verification of eligibility of applicants for, or recipients
of, the public assistance programs listed in Section 1320b-7(b) of
Title 42 of the United States Code.
   (F) Providing employer or employee information to the State
Department of Health Care Services, the California Health Benefit
Exchange, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and county
departments and agencies for the purpose of:
   (i) Verifying or determining the eligibility of an applicant for,
or a recipient of, state health subsidy programs, limited to the
Medi-Cal program, provided pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, the Healthy Families Program, provided pursuant to
Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693) of Division 2 of the
Insurance Code, and the Access for Infants and Mothers Program,
provided pursuant to Part 6.3 (commencing with Section 12695) of
Division 2 of the Insurance Code, where the verification or
determination is directly connected with, and limited to, the
administration of the state health subsidy programs referenced in
this clause.
   (ii) Verifying or determining the eligibility of an applicant for,
or a recipient of, federal subsidies offered through the California
Health Benefit Exchange, provided pursuant to Title 22 (commencing
with Section 100500) of the Government Code, including federal tax
credits and cost-sharing assistance pursuant to the federal Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, (Public Law 111-148), as amended
by the federal Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(Public Law 111-152), where the verification or determination is
directly connected with, and limited to, the administration of the
California Health Benefit Exchange.
   (iii) Verifying or determining the eligibility of employees and
employers for health coverage through the Small Business Health
Options Program, provided pursuant to Section 100502 of the
Government Code, where the verification or determination is directly
connected with, and limited to, the administration of the Small
Business Health Options Program.
   (g) For purposes of this section, "employer" includes a labor
union hiring hall.
   (h) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1998.