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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Ortiz y Pino
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/31/07
HB
SHORT TITLE Small Employer Insurance for Contractors
SB 676
ANALYST Propst
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Companion to HB 695
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Human Services Department (HSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 676 adds a definition of small employer that includes: “a person that has a current
contract for state business specific to health and human services programs and employs fewer
than an average of five hundred persons over a twelve-month period."
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HSD reports that the health care insurance marketplace treats employers with less than 50 em-
ployees (small employers) less favorably than employers with greater than 50 employees (large
employers). The intent of the legislation is to assist small employers who have less clout in the
marketplace and not to interfere with the private market for health insurance for large employers
who had more viable options for obtaining commercial health insurance.