BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 1792 (Gomez) - Public benefits: reports on employers.
          
          Amended: July 1, 2014           Policy Vote: Health 6-2
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: August 14, 2014                           
          Consultant: Brendan McCarthy    
          
          SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 1972 would require the Department of Finance to  
          prepare an annual report that identifies each employer in the  
          state that employs 50 or more employees who receive benefits  
          from specified public assistance programs.

          Fiscal Impact (as approved on August 14, 2014): 
              Annual staff costs of at least $130,000 to collect  
              information and prepare the required report by the  
              Department of Finance (General Fund).
              
              One-time costs of about $30,000 and ongoing costs of about  
              $60,000 per year to match beneficiary data with employer  
              data by the Employment Development Department (General  
              Fund).
              
              Ongoing costs of about $230,000 per year to analyze  
              Medi-Cal beneficiary data and report it by the Department of  
              Health Care Services (General Fund).

          Background: Under current law, the Department of Health Care  
          Services oversees the state's Medi-Cal program, which provides  
          health care coverage to low income individuals as well as senior  
          citizens and the disabled.

          The Department of Social Services oversees the CalWorks program  
          which provides cash assistance and social services to low income  
          households and the CalFresh program which provides nutritional  
          benefits to low income households.

          Proposed Law: AB 1972 would require the Department of Finance to  
          prepare an annual report that identifies each employer in the  
          state that employs 50 or more employees who receive benefits  








          AB 1792 (Gomez)
          Page 1


          from specified public assistance programs.

          Specific provisions of the bill would:
              Require the Department of Finance to report annually on all  
              employers that have more than fifty employees who are  
              receiving Medi-Cal, CalWorks, or CalFresh benefits;
              Require the Department of Finance to include information on  
              the total amount of benefits received by each employer's  
              employees;
              Prohibit individually identifying information on employees  
              to be included in the report;
              Prohibit employers from discouraging employees from  
              participating in public assistance programs or  
              discriminating against employees for participating in public  
              assistance programs;
              Require the Department of Health Care Services and the  
              Department of Social Services to provide the Employment  
              Development Department with identifying information on  
              beneficiaries;
              Require the Department of Health Care Services and the  
              Department of Social Services to determine the average  
              annual cost to provide benefits to program participants.

          Related Legislation: AB 880 (Gomez, 2013) would have required  
          employers to pay a penalty for each employee enrolled in  
          Medi-Cal. That bill failed passage on the Assembly Floor.

          Staff comments: The only costs that may be incurred by a local  
          agency under the bill relate to crimes and infractions. Under  
          the California Constitution, such costs are not reimbursable by  
          the state.

          Author's amendments: delete the requirement to include  
          information on CalWorks beneficiaries in the report, modify the  
          method for calculating the costs of benefit provided, delete the  
          requirement that the Department of Social Services provide  
          information to the Employment Development Department.