BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, 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)
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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.