The News Links - May 29, 2009

Commercial Real Estate

• Commercial Real Estate — the Economy's Anvil.

San Francisco

• S.F. assessor takes on Prop. 13. (BOMA's stance on this issue can be found here).
  
• The first S.F. solar bus shelter has arrived (with more to come!).
• Newsom to unveil proposed budget at City Hall.
• Newsom opposed to Sunday parking enforcement. (BOMA's stance is right here).
  

California

• State Fund files for 15% July 1 workers’ compensation rate increase.
• Wells Fargo CEO says California in 'financial ruin'.
  

General

• Sotomayor’s eminent domain stance: What does it mean for cities?
  

Insurance Update: COBRA and Workers Compensation

As you may recall, our last insurance update covered the new federal COBRA notification requirement and a possible 24.4% workers compensation increase in California. Here is the newest news on these two topics:

COBRA under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – Second Compliance Assistance Webcast (from the US Department of Labor Website):

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides for premium reductions and additional election opportunities for continuation coverage under COBRA. In the upcoming webcast, the Department of Labor will be joined by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to discuss the new COBRA provisions and the latest guidance, including information on the model notices and tax credit.

An archive of the webcast will be available on www.dol.gov/COBRA by April 8.

Workers Compensation Increase

If you are an employer in California, you'll be happy to hear that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to stop the 24.4% workers compensation increase. Please click here for the details.

Insurance Update: Workers Compensation, COBRA, and San Francisco’s Health Ordinance

Workers Comp Rates May Increase

Workers compensation rates may increase 24.4%. The details can be found here.

COBRA Notification

Employers with 20 or more employees will need to notify those employees who have been involuntarily terminated from September 1, 2008 or after. This applies only to those employees that had health insurance through your company. You will be required to pay 5% of your employee’s premium and will receive a refund from the Federal government. For those employers with 2 to 19 employees, your insurance carrier will be sending notices and you will not be required to advance the 65%.

Please contact Scott Hauge, President of Small Business California for more information at shauge@cal-insure.com. You can also visit the COBRA website.

San Francisco Healthcare Ordinance

It looks as if the San Francisco Healthcare Ordinance isn’t going away any time soon: a request by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association was recently denied by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Click here for the details.

UPDATE (March 23, 2009): Some restaurants are not in support of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association's lawsuit.