Bill No.  14-14

Concerning: Contracts and Procurement – Wage Requirements – Health Insurance - Amendments

Revised: April 1, 2015 Draft No. 14       

Introduced:      February 4, 2014

Enacted:         April 14, 2015

Executive:       April 22, 2015

Effective:        June 22, 2015

Sunset Date:  [[None]] July 1, 2017

Ch.   18 , Laws of Mont. Co.    2015

County Council

For Montgomery County, Maryland

By: Councilmembers Navarro, Berliner, Riemer, Elrich, Floreen and Branson

AN ACT to:

(1)        require [[certain]] the County [[contractors or subcontractors]] to [[provide health insurance or a cash equivalent for]] assist certain employees working on a County contract to apply for health insurance on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange;

(2)        [[limit the employee’s share of the health insurance premium for certain employees working on a County contract;

(3)]]     eliminate the credit against the wage requirements for the employer’s share of health insurance for certain employees working on a County contract; and

 (3)       generally amend the law governing wage requirements for County contractors and subcontractors.

By amending

            Montgomery County Code

            Chapter 11B, Contracts and Procurement

            Article VI, Wage Requirements

            Section 11B-33A

Boldface Heading or defined term.

Underlining Added to existing law by original bill.

[Single boldface brackets] Deleted from existing law by original bill.

Double underlining Added by amendment.

[[Double boldface brackets]] Deleted from existing law or the bill by amendment.

*   *   *                                                  Existing law unaffected by bill.

The County Council for Montgomery County, Maryland approves the following Act:

Sec. 1.  Section 11B-33A is amended as follows:

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(d)     Health insurance.  [If a]

(1)     Definitions.  As used in this subsection;

Health insurance means insurance coverage that is part of an employer benefit package that pays for medical expenses incurred by an employee and an employee’s family either by reimbursing the employee or by paying the care provider directly and provides the minimum essential health benefits required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 26 U.S.C. §5000A, as amended.

Maryland Health Benefit Exchange means the public corporation and independent unit of Maryland State government established in Title 31 of the Maryland Insurance Code.

(2)     [[The employee’s share of the premium for individual health insurance offered by a contractor or subcontractor must be affordable as defined for an employer-sponsored plan under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 26 U.S.C. §36B(c)(2)(C), as amended.]] [[(3)]]          A contractor or subcontractor [commits in its bid or proposal to] who does not provide health insurance [[must provide]] for an employee who provides services to the County must:

(A) [[health insurance]] [to any employee who provides services to the County, the] report to the Director the job title and salary for each employee providing services to the County under the contract who does not have health insurance without identifying confidential medical information; [[or]] and

(B)     [[a cash payment equal to the hourly average cost to the]] permit each employee [[for a Silver plan]] without health insurance to meet with a County representative designated by the Director of Health and Human Services during normal work hours to receive help applying for health insurance on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, [[less 9.5% of the employee’s hourly salary]] including any available Federal tax subsidy.

[[(4)]] [[(3)]] [[The contractor]] [[or subcontractor]] [may] [[must]] [:(1)] [[certify in its bid or proposal:

(A)    the]] [[per-employee hourly]] [[per pay period cost of the employer’s share of the premium for]] [[that]] [[health insurance[,] offered to its employees; and

[(2)] (B)]] [reduce the wage paid under subsection (e) to any employee covered by the insurance by all or part of the per-employee hourly cost of the employer’s share of the premium] [[the employee’s share of the premium for that health insurance.]]

[[(5)]] [[(4)]] (3)    The Director of the Department of Health and Human Services or a designee [[of the Director]] must assist any employee of a contractor or subcontractor without health insurance who requests help to apply for health insurance on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, including any available Federal tax subsidy.       

[[(6)]] [[(5)]] (4) Each contractor must submit a quarterly payroll report to the [[Director]] Chief Administrative Officer for each employee of the contractor or any subcontractor who performed services on the contract that includes:

(A) the wages paid to the employee; and

(B) the employer and the employee share of any health insurance premium provided to the employee.

[[(7)]] [[(6)]] (5) [[The Executive must adopt a Method 2 regulation establishing guidelines for calculating the amount of the cash payment option in subparagraph (3)]] The Director must retain the quarterly payroll reports submitted by the contractor under paragraph [[(6)]] [[(5)]] (4) for at least 3 years after the completion of the contract.  On or before each September 1, the Director must report to the Executive and the Council the number of employees of a contractor or subcontractor who provided services to the County during the previous fiscal year who had health insurance and the number of employees who did not have health insurance.

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(e)      Wage requirement.

(1)     [[Except as permitted under subsection (d)(2), each]] Each covered employer must pay each employee who is not exempt under subsection (f) at least $10.50 per hour during the time the employee actually provides services to the County.

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Sec. 2.  Effective date.

[[(a)]] The amendments to Section 11B-33A, inserted in Section 1 of this Act[[,]]:

(a)     apply to any contract [[for which the County government released a solicitation]] in effect on or after the date this Act takes effect; and

(b)     [[At the request of the contractor the Executive must renegotiate the terms of any contract entered into before this Act takes effect to reimburse the contractor for the increased cost of voluntarily adding a health insurance benefit that complies with this law for its employees who perform work for the County.  The increased cost to the County must not be greater than $4000 per year for each covered employee]] are not effective after July 1, 2017.

Approved: