FEDERAL AND STATE

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FEDERAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE REPORT        
Presented by Christopher Schrader, SPHR
Director, Legislative
Affairs Indiana State Council of SHRM
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Active HR Issues In Congress

• FMLA Reform Expansion
• Health Care Insurance
• Pension Retirement
• Fair Labor Standards Act

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Family and Medical Leave

• HR 35 Family and Medical Leave Clarification Act
• Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL)
• Intermittent Leave in 4 hr increments
• Organized employees required to choose FMLA or
  paid leave under a bargained agreement
• Serious Health Condition restored to the Acts
  original intent

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Family and Medical Leave

• S 18 Right Start Act
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)
• Include leave to cope or deal with the effects of
  domestic violence
• Include leave up to 24 hours per 12 months to
  attend Parent-Teacher meetings, interviewing for
  a school, or

107th
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Health Care Insurance

• S 10 Health Care Coverage Expansion And Quality
  Improvement Act
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)
• Tax credits to small businesses
• Right to see specialist w/o referral
• Right to use closest emergency room
• Right to independent appeals process
• Lifetime limits on mental health equal to those
  applied to hospitalization

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Health Care Insurance

• S 100 Access to Affordable Health Care Act
• Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
• Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Tax credits to small businesses
• Grants to states to assist in the development of
  small business purchasing groups

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Health Care Insurance

• S 39 Promoting Health Care Purchasing
  Cooperatives Act
• Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)
• Grants to help employers form health care
  purchasing cooperatives

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Pension Retirement

• S 9 Pension Protection and Expansion Act
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)
• Allow sale of co. stock after 3 years
• Require notification if co. stock exceeds 20 of
  total portfolio assets
• Require companies converting to cash balance
  plans to allow employees to retain existing plan
• Etc.

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Fair Labor Standards Act

• S 76 Paycheck Fairness Act
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)
• Designed to stiffen enforcement of and penalties
  for wage discrimination on the basis of gender
• Assumes disparity in wages between genders can
  only be the product of intentional discrimination
• Eliminates geographic differences (same
  establishment) allowances

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Fair Labor Standards Act

• S 20 Fair Minimum Wage Act
• Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD)
• Would raise minimum raise by 1.50
• Two steps .75 sixty days after enactment, and
  .75 one year later

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Regulatory Update

• EEOC
• Received 60 day extension to March 31 to revise
  the definition of job applicant for federal
  reporting purposes.
• OMB will allow EEOC to use current EEO-1 form
  without change for another year, meaning new
  standards will not go into effect until 2004
• Complaints (84,442) up in 2002 Religion up 21,
  Age 14.5 and National Origin 13

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Regulatory Update

• DOL
• Pension and Welfare Benefit Administration
  renamed Employee Benefits Security
  Administration suffers 11B loss
• EBSA has issued final regs on blackout period
  notices. Must contain reason for blackout,
  rights suspended, the start and end date of
  blackout, and instruction to employees to
  evaluate their portfolios accordingly

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Presidential Proposals

• Retirement and Savings
• Consolidation of 401(K), 403(B), Thrift, 457, and
  SEPs into Employer Retirement Savings Accounts
  (ERSA). Would follow 401(K) rules but greatly
  simplified
• Consolidation of IRA, MSA, 529 and companion
  state plans into Lifetime Savings Accounts (LSA)

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..
Presidential Proposals Contd

• Retirement and Savings
• LSA annual contributions of up to 7,500
  after-tax allowed with no taxes on earnings or
  withdrawals for any reason at any time
• Consolidation of traditional and Roth IRAs into
  Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA)
• RSA contribution limits same as LSA, but
  withdrawals tax free after age 58, death or
  disability. Earnings are not taxed. Can we
  withdrawn for any reason at any time

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Presidential Proposals Contd

• Medicare Prescription Coverage
• Provides coverage for prescriptions so long as
  medicare participant elects for HMO
• Even with this restriction, costs expected to be
  high

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Congressional Radar
FMLA
Mental Parity
FLSA
War
Min. Wage
Health Care
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The 2003 Indiana State General Session

• q     Budget Crisis
• q     Political jockeying

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Health Care Mandate Bills

• HB 1019 Coverage for Metabolic Disorders
• HB 1058 Coverage for Riverboat workers
• HB 1235 Post Mastectomy Care
• HB 1451 Coverage for hearing aids
• HB 1836 Coverage for childhood immunizations

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Health Care Mandate Bills

• SB 0102 Coverage for Hormone Replacement
• Therapy and Contraceptives
• SB 0103 Coverage for Annual Examinations
• SB 0107 Coverage for Bone Density Testing
• SB 0111 Coverage for women
• SB 0210 Coverage for childhood immunizations

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Wage and Hour Bills

• HB 1080 Supervision of Minors at Night
• HB 1274 Working Conditions and Hours for
  Minors
• SB 0120 Employment of Minors
• SB 0346 Minimum Wage/Prevailing Wage

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Terms Conditions

• HB 1064 Report of Health or Safety Violation
• HB 1356 Age Discrimination
• HB 1682 State Funds for Union Organizing
• HB 1684 Employee Protections
• HB 1685 Employee Personnel Records

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