In July of 2006 the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (“the Ordinance”) allowing the city to mandate employers with more than 50 employees to pay a fee to help cover their employee health care costs was unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

On December 26, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled in favor of The Golden Gate Restaurant Association’s (GGRA) application, contending that ERISA preempted the Ordinance. 

While the Ninth Circuit is pending an appeal on the ERISA preemption issue, the city of San Francisco will be able to enforce the Ordinance. Finding that ERISA preempts the Ordinance would establish an essential standard. The outcome of the appeal will have a significant impact on similar emerging regulations such as “fair share laws” that require employers to make minimum outlays to their health plans or instead make contributions in the required amounts to a state or local government fund. ERISA preemption would mean that states across the country likely would not be able to require employers, including employers with self-insured health plans, to spend a certain amount of money on health coverage.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm and is filed under 9th, California, Preemption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.