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.