I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5440
To require large employers to notify their employees of the amount paid
by the employer for employee health coverage.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 11, 2000
Mr. ARMEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To require large employers to notify their employees of the
amount paid by the employer for employee health coverage.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employee Health Ben-
efits Disclosure Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYER COST OF PROVIDING
HEALTH COVERAGE FOR EMPLOYEES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Every large employer who pro-
vides health coverage for an employee during any calendar
year shall notify such employee of the amount of the em-
ployer health plan contribution for such year.
(b) EMPLOYER HEALTH PLAN CONTRIBUTION.—For
purposes of this section—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer health
plan contribution’’ means, with respect to an em-
ployee, the cost of the employer-provided coverage
for such employee under any health plan.
(2) ALTERNATIVE AMOUNT.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—In lieu of applying
paragraph (1), an employer may treat the em-
ployer health plan contribution as being the ap-
plicable 
premium 
(as 
defined 
in 
section
4980B(f)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986) for the employee reduced by the employ-
ee’s share of such premium.
(B) EMPLOYEE’S SHARE.—The term ‘‘em-
ployee’s share’’ means, with respect to the ap-
plicable premium for any employee, the amount
of the cost to the plan which is paid by simi-
larly situated beneficiaries who are taken into
account in determining such premium for such
employee.
(c) STATEMENT REQUIRED TO BE INCLUDED ON
NOTICE.—Each notice provided under this section shall
include the following statement with respect to the em-
ployer health plan contribution: ‘‘This contribution is part
of your total compensation and reduces your cash wages
and other compensation by a like amount.’’
(d) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this
section—
(1) LARGE EMPLOYER.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘large em-
ployer’’ means, with respect to a calendar year,
any employer who employed an average of 100
or more employees on business days during the
preceding calendar year. For purposes of the
preceding sentence, a preceding calendar year
may be taken into account only if the employer
was in existence throughout such year.
(B) EMPLOYERS
NOT
IN
EXISTENCE
IN
PRECEDING YEAR.—In the case of an employer
which was not in existence throughout the pre-
ceding calendar year, the determination under
subparagraph (A) shall be based on the average
number of employees that it is reasonably ex-
pected such employer will employ on business
days during the current calendar year.
(C) SPECIAL RULES.—
(i) CONTROLLED GROUPS.—For pur-
poses of this paragraph, all persons treated
as a single employer under subsection (b),
(c), (m), or (o) of section 414 of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be treated
as 1 employer.
(ii) PREDECESSORS.—Any reference
in this paragraph to an employer shall in-
clude a reference to any predecessor of
such employer.
(2) EMPLOYEE.—Except for purposes of para-
graph (1), the term ‘‘employee’’ includes a former
employee and an individual who is a beneficiary by
reason of a deceased employee.
(e) MEANS OF NOTICE.—The notice required under
this section may be made by mail, by including the re-
quired information with a payment of wages or with a de-
scription of the plan provided to employees, or by other
reasonable means.
(f) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO NOTIFY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A large employer who will-
fully fails to provide a timely notice under this sec-
tion to an employee, or who willfully furnishes a no-
tice stating a false employer health plan contribu-
tion, shall for each such failure be subject to a pen-
alty under subchapter B of chapter 68 of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 of $50, which shall be as-
sessed and collected in the same manner as the tax
on employers imposed by section 3111 of such Code.
(2) SAFE
HARBOR.—An employer shall be
treated as providing a timely notice under this sec-
tion with respect to any period during a calendar
year if such notice is provided on or before January
31 of the succeeding year.
(g) ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of
the Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate shall prescribe
such regulations as may be appropriate to carry out this
section and shall have administrative responsibility for de-
termining whether the requirements of this section are
met.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall apply to calendar years after 2004.
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