December 26, 2007

Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. City & County of San Francisco

Golden Gate Restaurant Association, a group established to promote, extend and protect the general interests of the restaurant industry, brought suit on November 8, 2006, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief on the theory that a law passed by the City of San Francisco included a spending requirement is preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) law that forbids state and local government regulation of employee benefits. The law sought to ensure that all adult residents have health insurance. On January 1, 2008, the law would have affected employers with 50 or more employees; on April 1, 2008, for-profit employers with 20 or more employees would have been affected. Employers that did not offer health insurance plans to their employees would have been charged a specific fee per-employee. The fee would have been used to fund a city-run health services program.