By David Farmer,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – State Sen. President Beth Edmonds is pushing legislation that would require employers with more than 1,000 workers to disclose how many of their employees receive MaineCare benefits.

The move was prompted by a Sun Journal investigation in November, she said Wednesday.

Representatives of Maine’s business community lined up against the legislation during a public hearing Wednesday before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, while labor unions and advocates for the poor and a number of individuals stood in support. According the Maine Department of Labor in 2005 only 28 businesses operating in Maine employed more than 1,000 workers.

“At one time, we might have assumed that every working person had access to health insurance through his or her employer,” Edmonds told the media before the hearing and then again in front of the committee. “We now know that that isn’t true.”

Edmonds then cited the Sun Journal’s findings: More than 4,400 workers at the state’s largest companies qualified for state assistance. These workers “must rely on MaineCare or other public programs to meet their basic needs, or the needs of their family members.”

Edmonds’ legislation, L.D. 1927, would require the Department of Health and Human Services to provide monthly information on the types of employment, types of employers, wages and work status of working people who are on MaineCare.

Initially, Edmonds envisioned broader reporting requirements that would have included thousands of more businesses and would have listed them by name. She pulled back hoping to avoid a fight.

In its new form, the information will only be sorted by industry, such as retail, manufacturing or health care. Names won’t be named. And it will apply only to businesses that employ 1,000 or more people.

The changes were made, Edmonds said, because her intent was never to create a “hall of shame” or a list of bad employers. After the Sun Journal’s story was published Nov. 14, Edmonds said she was approached by representatives from Goodwill Industries, which showed up in the Sun Journal’s data as having 18.12 percent of its workers receiving state aid.

“Goodwill is trying to employ people who would be on MaineCare anyway,” Edmonds said. “I don’t believe in embarrassing people to get them to do things. But we want to present the facts to the people of Maine.”

Testimony in support of the bill and committee members’ questions made it clear that Edmond’s proposal has started a proxy fight over other issues.

Supporters of the bill often railed against Wal-Mart, the world’s largest corporation, which was at the top of the Sun Journal’s audit with about 15 percent of its work force – about 1,000 people – receiving state services targeted toward the poor.

Both sides see Edmonds’ legislation as the first shot in the Wal-Mart wars in Maine. In Maryland, legislation was enacted this year that takes aim at large companies that do not spend an amount equal to 8 percent of their payroll or more on health insurance for their workers. The title of that bill, An Act to Prevent State Taxpayers from Subsidizing Large Employers, suggests where Edmonds is headed.

“There are others who share my concern about health care who wanted to put in a stronger, more active bill this session,” Edmonds said. “I support the idea of requiring employers to pay their fair share of health-care costs, but I am not sure that we can impose such a requirement on Maine employers at this point. I have opted to ask for information, rather than imposing an affirmative duty. … I think (others) might want a stronger bill, and I have the same goals in mind.”

It also became a proxy for discussing the future of health insurance in Maine, DirigoChoice and the role and responsibility of employers to provide coverage to their workers.

“It’s about our health-care system as a whole,” said state Rep. Arthur Lerman, D-Augusta. “We’re shifting away from an employer-based system to something else. The percentage of people who get health insurance from their employer is steadily going down. That’s the context of this bill. Keep this issue alive. The time isn’t right to be more bold.”

Representatives from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Merchants Association and the National Federation of Independent Business endured more than two hours of supportive testimony to stand against the bill before the committee.

Among the most dynamic speakers was the polished Peter Gore from the state chamber: “Employers in the state, our members, try to do the right thing for their employees,” he said.

This bill, Gore said, seeks to create a list of bad employers, a list of shame, but it doesn’t seem to recognize that businesses are struggling under high health-care costs just like their workers. It also wouldn’t provide enough information on why people receive state assistance.

“Businesses were asked to participate in welfare reform and told the state would provide transitional services … Now they’re going to be held out as a bad employer?” Gore said.

The bill does not provide an appropriate yardstick, Gore said, to determine whether a company is a good employer or not.

Edmonds remains undeterred. “We don’t want to get into shaming people. We want to understand the magnitude of the problem. … Good public policy requires good information.”

The Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to hold a work session on the bill March 8.

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