Proposed Bill Is Aimed at Healthcare Benefits

A California state senator said Thursday that she would introduce legislation aimed at forcing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other large employers to offer better healthcare coverage to workers.

State Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) said her proposal would require companies that employ at least 10,000 people in California to spend at least 8% of their total payroll on health benefits or make payments into a state fund for the uninsured. She said the proposal was modeled on a new Maryland law.

Wal-Mart has more than 70,000 employees in California. A 2004 study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that inadequate wages and benefits force workers at Wal-Mart stores in California to seek $$86 million in state aid for healthcare and other expenses.

Wal-Mart could be required to pay more than $50 million toward healthcare coverage for its workers under the proposal, Migden said. She said she didn’t know how many other companies could be affected by her proposed legislation.

Migden said she expected her bill, which is still being drafted, to be introduced in the state Senate next week.

“We’re not trying to attack Wal-Mart,” Migden said. “We’re trying to create a bill that forces large employers who make large profits as part of the California dream to be responsible about funding part of their employees’ insurance costs.”

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said she hadn’t seen Migden’s proposal, but she said similar bills in other states had done little to address the problem of uninsured citizens. For example, fewer than 0.5% of Maryland’s uninsured are Wal-Mart workers, she said.

“Our energies should be focused on developing meaningful solutions to the problem and the people of California deserve more than politically motivated bills masquerading as progress,” said Mona Williams, Wal-Mart’s vice president of corporate communications.

Several other states, including Washington, Connecticut and New Hampshire, have begun debates on what are being called “fair share healthcare” bills.

Although Migden’s proposed bill could get a sympathetic hearing in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature, it is expected to generate strong opposition from business lobbyists.