Secretary of State Certifies Referendum To Repeal Health Insurance Law for Inclusion on November Ballot
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley (D) has certified for the November statewide ballot a referendum to repeal a law (SB 2) that will require some employers to provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage, referendum supporters announced Monday, the Sacramento Bee reports. The certification of the referendum -- which is sponsored by Californians Against Government Run Healthcare, a coalition of business groups opposed to the law -- required the validation of 624,000 signatures (Rapaport, Sacramento Bee 3/23). The law, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2006, will require employers with 200 or more employees to provide health insurance to workers and their dependents by 2006 or pay into the state fund. Employers with 50 to 199 employees will have to provide health insurance only to workers by 2007. The law will exempt employers with fewer than 20 employees. The law also will exempt employers with 20 to 49 employees unless the state provides them with tax credits to subsidize the cost of health insurance for employees (California Healthline, 3/17).
Additional information on SB 2 is available online.