Landscaping Industry Urges Congress to Support Health Care Law Amendment

H.R. 5213, the STARS Act, would make it easier for companies employing seasonal workers to comply with the new health care law.

September 15, 2014

Gregg Wartgow

National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP)

Back in late July at the annual Legislative Day on the Hill industry event, one of the items on PLANET’s regulatory watch list was H.R. 5213, the STARS Act. This amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, i.e. the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or ObamaCare, is designed to help companies that hire seasonal workers better understand how to comply with the employer mandate section of the ACA.

PLANET, along with 124 other associations and groups from this and other industries, sent a thank you letter to the bill’s original sponsors: Jim Renacci, R-OH; Kurt Schrader, D-OR; Lynn Jenkins, R-KS; and Jim Costa, D-CA. Since then, an additional 14 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have also given their support to H.R. 5213:

Black, Diane (R-TN-6)
Boustany, Charles W., Jr. (R-LA-3)
Joyce, David P. (R-OH-14)
Valadao, David G. (R-CA-21)
Hastings, Doc (R-WA-4)
Amodei, Mark E. (R-NV-2)
Young, Todd C. (R-IN-9)
Griffin, Tim (R-AR-2)
Luetkemeyer, Blaine (R-MO-3)
Collins, Chris (R-NY-27)
Hanna, Richard L. (R-NY-22)
Schock, Aaron (R-IL-18)
Ribble, Reid J. (R-WI-8)
Murphy, Patrick (D-FL-18)

PLANET now urges landscape and lawn care contractors, along with equipment dealers and other industry stakeholders, to contact their local representatives in Congress and urge them to also support H.R. 5213, the STARS Act.

Why the STARS Act is needed. The Green Industry faces a couple of specific challenges with respect to the Affordable Care Act as it stands now. First of all, how should a company factor in seasonal employees who work "full-time hours" for part of the year but then don't work at all another part of the year? Secondly, if an employer proves to be an ALE (applicable large employer with 50 or more full-time employees) after performing the necessary employee calculations, to whom must the employer offer health insurance to? Must the employer offer health insurance to seasonal workers only working part of the year? To help navigate this rather murky area, another complex exercise is offered called the Look-back Measurement Method. All of this creates a lot of unnecessary confusion and cost for small business owners such as landscape contractors; not surprising when you consider how this entire exercise is administered by the IRS.

The STARS Act of 2014 (Simplifying Technical Aspects Regarding Seasonality), H.R. 5213, seeks to do two things: 1) define a "seasonal employee" as one who is employed on a seasonal basis for six months or less during the calendar year, and 2) exclude all seasonal workers from the complex ALE formula.

Other industry groups in support of STARS. An additional 124 associations and industry groups have joined with PLANET in support of the STARS Act. They are: