House of Representatives passes landmark health reform legislation

Posted Mar. 21, 2010

Late on March 21, the House of Representatives passed two pieces of legislation that, together, would reform the U.S. health system and impact most employers, virtually all taxpayers, and all segments of the health care industry. First, the House by a vote of 219-212 approved H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as passed the Senate in December of 2008. Thus, this bill was cleared for signature by the President which subsequently occurred on March 23. Second, the House by a vote of 220 to 211 approved the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,” i.e., the “Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 4872, as amended.” The Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute amended the health reform bill that the Senate passed in December to make it more palatable to House members. Assuming this second, “follow-on” bill passes the Senate (only a simple majority is needed under the reconciliation rules), it too will be cleared for the President’s signature, thus completing a massive overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.

---

 

President Signs HIRE Act; New Law Provides Hiring Incentives, Expensing Extension and More

Posted Mar. 18, 2010

On March 18, President Obama signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The President’s signature sets the effective date for numerous HIRE Act provisions with an effective date geared to the March 18, 2010, date of enactment. Significant provisions of the new law include:

Payroll tax holiday and up-to-$1,000 credit for employers who hire unemployed workers. To help stimulate the hiring of workers by the private sector, the new law exempts any private-sector employer that hires a worker who had been unemployed for at least 60 days from having to pay the employer’s 6.2% share of the Social Security payroll tax on that employee for the remainder of 2010. A company could save a maximum of $6,621 if it hired an unemployed worker and paid that worker at least $106,800 — the maximum amount of wages subject to Social Security taxes—by the end of the year. As an additional incentive, for any qualifying worker hired under this initiative that the employer keeps on payroll for a continuous 52 weeks, the employer is eligible for an additional non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,000 after the 52-week threshold is reached, to be taken on their 2011 tax return. In order to be eligible, the employee’s pay in the second 26-week period must be at least 80% of the pay in the first 26-week period.

Click here to download this important LBA Alert to learn more.