Bill Text: CA AB842 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Contractors: trust or custodial benefits plans: essential health benefits.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2015-06-02 - From committee: Without further action pursuant to Joint Rule 62(a). [AB842 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB842-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 842 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Patterson
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 325) to Part 1
of Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to contractors.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 842, as introduced, Patterson. Contractors: trust or custodial
benefits plans: essential health benefits.
Existing federal law, the federal Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacts various health care coverage
market reforms that take effect January 1, 2014. Among other things,
the PPACA requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in
the small group or individual market to ensure that the coverage
includes the essential health benefits package, as defined, and
describes essential health benefits for that purpose.
Existing law states that it is the policy of this state to
vigorously enforce the laws requiring employers to secure the payment
of compensation for workers, as specified. Existing law defines a
project labor agreement, as specified. A project labor agreement may
include a trust or custodial benefit plan to provide health and
welfare or similar benefits for workers.
This bill would provide that a contractor that bids on or has been
awarded work covered by a project labor agreement that provides
health care coverage to workers on the project that is the subject of
the agreement, that includes essential health benefits, as described
in the PPACA, and that provides evidence of that coverage to the
entity awarding the contract, is exempt from a requirement to pay
into a trust or custodial benefit plan for health and welfare or
similar benefits for those workers an amount equal to the amount that
the contractor would have been required to pay into that trust or
custodial benefit plan for health care costs for those workers.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 325) is added to
Part 1 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:
CHAPTER 2.5. CONTRACTORS: EMPLOYEE HEALTH BENEFITS.
325. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) A "project labor agreement" refers to a prehire collective
bargaining agreement that establishes the terms and conditions of
employment for a specific construction project and is an agreement
described in Section 158(f) of Title 29 of the United States Code.
(b) The "PPACA" refers 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), and any rules, regulations, or guidance issued thereunder.
326. A contractor that bids on or has been awarded work covered
by a project labor agreement that provides health care coverage to
workers on the project that is the subject of the agreement, that
includes essential health benefits, as described in the PPACA in
Section 18022 of Title 42 of the United States Code, and that
provides evidence of that coverage to the entity awarding the
contract, is exempt from a requirement to pay into a trust or
custodial benefit plan, designated by the project labor agreement to
provide health and welfare or similar benefits for those workers, an
amount equal to the amount that the contractor would have been
required to pay into that trust or custodial benefit plan for health
care costs for those workers.
