ACA Individual Coverage/Sept. 24 ACA presentation in Marin/Seeking questions on ACA

I think you all know that Oct 1st, 2013 the Exchange [Covered California] will be up and running for coverage on an individual basis and for groups 2 to 50 [SHOP]. Coverage will be effective Jan 1st, 2014.
On the individual coverage there will be Open Enrollment from Oct 1st to March 31st. What you may not know that if you miss placing your individual coverage by March 31st you will not be able to get coverage until Open Enrollment begins Oct 1st, 2014 for 2015 coverage. There are some exceptions to this that being for marriage, divorce and Native Americans. You will however be able to choose between COBRA and the Exchange if you lose your employer based coverage.

Covered California has a new personal coverage calculator. Go to www.coveredca.com. You can get more information also about how Covered California works.

For those of you in the Marin area, I will be speaking on the Affordable Care Act [ACA] at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael September 24th with Congressman Jared Huffman from Covered California and Bonnie Preston from HHS. The program is from 8AM to 10AM.

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I am working with Lucas Public Relations and the California Endowment Foundation in outreach to the California small business community on ACA. One of the things we thought would be helpful is to get as many questions as possible from the small business community. Could you please send me your questions? We will try to answer them and let you know when we just don’t know. It is our goal to then set up a FAQ after receipt of those questions.



Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188 

Debt Ceiling/ ACA

On Thursday I am meeting with a  staff  member of Senator Barbara Boxer . The topic is the debt limit. The  current limit is $16.7 trillion. The  Treasury pays every Thursday $100 billion to investors and usually  investors immediately lend this back to the government in a process called rolling  over the debt. It is expected that cash will run out sometime mid October if the debt ceiling is not raised.

There are those that argue that this is an opportunity to cut government spending . One area mentioned is to cut spending on the Affordable Care Act. If the debt ceiling is not raised or if spending cannot be cut enough to pay the debt the US would go into default. A default would wreak havoc with the US economy and  would trigger a sharp increase in interest rates. What is your opinion on this issue? If there is a default do you know how it would impact you and your business? If you could talk to Senator Boxer on this what would you tell her?

Last week tax  guidance was  provided by the Department of Labor and IRS. It was a mind numbing piece but as best as I can tell through my research it will be difficult  if not impossible for employers to set up accounts  allowing individuals to purchase individual health  on a pretax basis. The exception is retirees.

In my last email I mentioned the requirement of the Affordable Care Act that employers notify in writing information  about the Exchange [Covered California].  It is not clear whether this can be by email and many have been saying it can’t. I am not sure this is accurate, but if anyone knows for sure please let me know.


Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188 

Employer notification/ AB 769

On October 1 ,2013 all employers with $500,000 or more receipts are required to provide their employees  notices about the Exchange in their state. In California the Exchange is called  Covered California. Please see link to a piece I wrote in Fox and Hound. It includes the forms if you are providing health insurance to your employees and if you are not. Note you are required to provide this in writing so just providing the form technically does not meet the requirement.

It has been confirmed that there are no penalties at this time for not providing  form in writing to employeeEmployers Must be Alert to Section 1512 of Affordable Care Act - Fox and Hounds Daily
By Scott Hauge. President, Small Business California. Tuesday, August 27th, 2013. Although several provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been in ...See all stories on this topic » 
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AB 769  which would have eliminated the Net Operating Loss Carryback  is  officially dead. While it was held back by the author, Skinner,  we were nervous that this could have come up as a gut and amend. With session over this last concern has been addressed. Small Business California sent a letter of opposition with 28 associations cosigning

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I have received a call from the Wall Street Journal wanting to talk to California businesses regarding the minimum wage increase legislation that the governor is expected to sign. If you would be willing to speak with a reporter about this issue, please let me know.


Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188 

Supporting Bills/CAMEO Webinar

B Cal sponsored or supported the following important bills this year:

SB 12 (Corbett) – Made in California – This bill would establish the public and private partnership in promoting California small businesses and the products they produce.  Awaiting Action by the Governor

AB 227 (Gatto) – Prop 65 – Display of warning info – Prohibits an enforcement action from being filed by a person in the public interest and prohibits recovery of certain payments or reimbursements if the notice to the alleged violation alleges a failure to provide a clear and reasonable warning for certain specified exposures including that the violator may not be liable due to a certain number of employees and, the alleged violator accomplishes specified actions. Requires certain information for any related action that is filed. Requires penalty adjustment.  Awaiting Action by the Governor

AB 285 (Brown) – Micro Enterprises and Economic Development – Enables the CA Workforce Investment Board to create guidelines to help local workforce investment boards implement entrepreneurial and self-employment training to micro-businesses that are trying to expand.  Awaiting Action by the Governor

AB 393 (Cooley) – Go-Biz Web site fee schedules – Signed by the Governor (Ch 124, Stat 2013)
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Please see information below about a webinar  by our friends at CAMEO. It will focus on the importance of self-employment and micro businesses  in job creation.

Mon, Sep. 16, 2013, 12:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time - Registration Link:https://cc.readytalk.com/r/lqbj25c8mjo3&eom

 Self-employment is THE labor market trend
In California corporations with more than 500 employees shed almost 300,00 jobs from 2003 to 2010, while during the same period,
companies with 1-4 employees created more than 700,00 jobs. It's the very small and independent workers who are creating the jobs. 



You know who the small businesses are, but who are these independent workers?

This session will present data supporting self-employment and local micro business trends, and describe strategies, tools and resources that are proven effective in creating businesses, jobs and sustained local economies, without huge investment.

 Bring your lunch, log on and discuss one of the most important labor market trends we are facing.





Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188 

Updates/CAMEO Webinar

I have just learned that Ellen Widess has resigned as head of Cal OSHA. She was  a good friend of Small Business California. Her goal in her position was to have OSHA seen as a resource to small business and not a gotcha agency. She will be missed.

As you know we are coming to the end of the legislative session. Two bills  that Small Business California supported have been decided. The good news is that SB 399 has  passed and sent to the Governor. This bill was the prompt payment of businesses that do  emergency work for the Department of General Services. Small Business California coordinated a letter of support by about 30 associations. It now goes to the Governor.

The bad news is that AB837 was  sent to the inactive file. This is the bill that would codify the Small Business Development Centers in California. We will continue to work on getting funding for the SBDCs to meet their match from the SBA.

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Please see information below of a webinar  by our friends at CAMEO. It will focus on the importance of self employment and micro businesses  in job creation.

Join Claudia Viek, CEO of CAMEO (California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity), for a virtual brown bag lunch, with a short presentation and discussion of this crucial labor market trend.

Mon, Sept. 16, 2013, 12:00 PM PDT- Registration Link

Self-employment is THE labor market trend

In California corporations with more than 500 employees shed almost 300,00 jobs from 2003 to 2010, while during the same period, companies with 1-4 employees created more than 700,00 jobs. It's the very small and independent workers who are creating the jobs.  You know who the small businesses are, but who are these independent workers?

This session will present data supporting self employment and local micro business trends, and describe strategies, tools and resources that are proven effective in creating businesses, jobs and sustained local economies, without huge investment. 

Bring your lunch, log on and discuss one of the most important labor market trends we are facing.

      

Watch CAMEO Connects to see the power of locally-grown small-businesses.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA  94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188