BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2467 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2467 (Gomez) - As Amended April 21, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Health |Vote:|11 - 6 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires hospitals and medical groups to report information about employee compensation. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires, on and after October 1, 2017, covered hospitals or medical entities, as defined, to submit an annual hospital executive compensation report to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) for every hospital executive whose total annual compensation meets or exceeds $250,000 per year. AB 2467 Page 2 2)Requires reporting the number of employees earning annual total compensation in 12 pay bands, as well as demographic data including self-reported gender, ethnicity, and race, and voluntarily self-reported sexual orientation and gender identity. 3)Requires OSHPD to establish and assess reasonable fees, to be submitted with each annual report, to cover only the reasonable costs of implementation and ensuring compliance. FISCAL EFFECT: Staff and information technology costs to OSHPD of $390,000 in year 1, $240,000 in year 2, and ongoing costs of $110,000 to implement this bill (fee-supported by fee revenue authorized pursuant to this bill). One-time activities include development of regulations, preparation of system requirements and design documents, information technology system testing, Ongoing activities include reviewing reports, researching which unlicensed entities must report, contacting report entities with missing or delinquent reports and addressing questions from the public and policy makers. COMMENTS: AB 2467 Page 3 1)Purpose. This bill is intended to assess how hospital executive compensation is contributing to overall rising health care costs and to provide data related to pay equity in California hospitals. 2)Background. The level and growth of corporate executive compensation across the United States has been a topic of significant media attention and public dialogue in recent years. Hospitals and hospital systems are complex for-profit, non-profit, and public organizations that provide executive compensation packages to attract and retain executives. Not-for-profit hospitals must report certain compensation information on federal Internal Revenue Service form 990, but this is reported at the hospital system level, not the individual hospital level. For-profit publicly traded hospitals must report salaries for the five most highly compensated employees, while private for-profit hospitals have no existing requirement. This bill would enhance existing compensation-related reporting requirements and expand reporting to more entities. This bill also requires submission of pay data similar to that required by recently proposed federal regulations. Gender inequity in pay, as well as underrepresentation of females in senior management, have been noted in the health care sector. This bill would add demographic information to allow analysis of pay data by demographic variables. 3)Support. The sponsor of this bill, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), asserts hospital executive compensation has spiked to excessive levels in recent years, and that requiring public reporting will assist the public and health care stakeholders to understand these compensation practices, and how they may relate to the level of charity care or community benefits provided, as well as their impact on prices and utilization. Furthermore, they cite a lack of AB 2467 Page 4 data on pay equity among the workforce at California hospitals, and believe increased transparency will increase understanding of such inequity. Labor organizations including the California Labor Federation and the United Nurses Association of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals, as well as LGBT advocacy groups, also support this bill. 4)Opposition. The California Hospital Association opposes this bill, citing a lack of connection between executive compensation and charity care, requirements that are both duplicative and onerous, significant privacy and safety concerns, concern about the reliability of self-reported data, concern the bill could actually drive up compensation by providing a basis for executives or boards to increase wages, and prematurity, given federal rules on pay equity reporting are forthcoming. The California Chamber of Commerce and numerous individual hospitals and health systems also oppose this bill. Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081