Business Group Takes On Health Insurance Law
The California Chamber of Commerce took the first step Thursday to let voters decide whether to stop a law that would require many businesses to provide their employees with health insurance.
The chamber opposed the law, signed last month by Gov. Gray Davis, that it estimates would cost businesses more than $7 billion and lead employers to lay off people, rather than absorb the higher costs, said Fred Main, the chamber’s general counsel.
The law could give as many as 1.2 million workers and their families health insurance through a plan that would be financed mostly by employers.
The chamber filed papers with the attorney general’s office, which would write the ballot measure’s title and summary, Main said.
But the chamber hasn’t decided yet whether it would pursue a ballot measure or fight the law in court.
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