STARS Introduced in Senate: SAF Continues To Lead

The Society of American Florists

After months of lobbying by SAF, S. 1809, the “Simplifying Technical Aspects Regarding Seasonality (STARS) Act” was introduced in the Senate July 22 by Sens. Kelley Ayotte (R-NH), Angus King (I-ME) and Roy Blunt (R-MO).

The legislation is a companion to H.R. 863, introduced in the House last February by Reps. Jim Renacci (R-OH) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR).

Leading a coalition representing various industries, SAF has worked with a bipartisan group of members of Congress to introduce the legislation. The bill would provide relief to seasonal employers in the floral industry who have been struggling to understand and comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Under current law, different definitions of seasonal, with different lengths of service, are used to determine whether a business is defined as large or small under the ACA and whether the employees in question must be offered health insurance. The result has been confusing and often incorrect compliance information that puts seasonal employers at risk for potential tax liabilities.

Left unchanged, the law would create greater confusion and costs for seasonal employers attempting to properly comply with the ACA. The STARS Act seeks to align definitions of what constitutes a seasonal worker with Treasury Department regulations and provide clarity so employers can understand and comply with the law.

Just before the bill was introduced, members of the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) took the issue to Capitol Hill after Shawn McBurney, SAF’s senior director of government relations, briefed the group.

Speaking before a crowd of lawn care and landscape industry business owners, McBurney updated the group on the status of the STARS Act and presented key selling points of the legislation. He also outlined what they might hear about the bill on Capitol Hill.

Currently, the House bill has 57 co-sponsors. In addition to working on the bill’s introduction in the Senate, SAF and its coalition continue to meet with members of the House to increase the number of co-sponsors and lobby for passage.

NALP has been involved in SAF’s efforts to pass the STARS Act almost since its inception, according to McBurney, who noted that Sen. Ayotte (R-NH), is married to a landscape professional, a fact shared with SAF members during a CAD office visit.

“The senator has firsthand knowledge of how the ACA’s definition of seasonal affects industry businesses,” McBurney said.

Employers Subject to Fines For Helping Workers With Health Care Expenses
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers who provide their workers with additional money as a way to help with their health care expenses are subject to a $100 per day fine as of July 1, 2015.

Although many employers have helped their workers cover their health care expenses through Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) for many years, the Obama Administration issued regulations making stand-alone HRAs to reimburse employees for healthcare-related expenses illegal, stating these arrangements didn’t satisfy the ACA’s minimum benefit and annual dollar cap requirements for health insurance plans under the law.

In response, Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) along with Representatives Charles Boustany, Jr. (R-LA) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced bipartisan companion language in the House (H.R. 2911) and Senate (S. 1697) known as the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act to block those regulations.

The legislation would provide relief to small businesses and local municipalities with fewer than 50 employees by allowing them to continue using pre-tax dollars to give employees a defined contribution for healthcare expenses. It would also allow employees to use HRA funds to purchase health coverage on the individual market, as well as for qualified out-of-pocket medical expenses if the employee has qualified health coverage. Finally, it would protect employers from being financially penalized for providing this cost-sharing option to their employees.

GSP Reinstated, Flowers Regain Duty-Free Status
Flowers entering the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) regained duty-free status after Congress reinstated the program that’s been inactive since mid-2013.

The Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015—H.R. 1295—reauthorizes the GSP, which expired on July 31, 2013. The GSP provides developing nations access to the U.S. market through the duty-free treatment of exports, including some flowers. Roses currently are not included in the GSP.

The bill, signed into law by President Obama, is retroactive to July 31, 2013, and went into effect on July 29, 2015. Duties paid since July 31, 2013, by importers of record will be reimbursed.

Help Decide Priorities for IR-4 Research
Growers’ voices, experience and needs are crucially important as a federal program important to the floral industry decides its research priorities for the next two years.

SAF joins IR-4, a USDA program that helps obtain approval for new chemicals for greenhouse and nursery use, in asking growers to take a few minutes to complete a short survey that will help target research funding to problems that are especially important to floriculture and nursery growers.

The survey can be accessed by visiting http://ir4.rutgers.edu/Ornamental/Survey/index.cfm?utm_source=2015+June&utm_campaign=2014Dec&utm_medium=email.

IR-4, funded through the USDA budget, is a strong, and often unsung, supporter of floriculture and nursery growers. Without the data it collects, many chemicals would be registered only for major food crops, making new chemical products unavailable to the green industry.

Completing the survey is a very important way to make sure that growers’ highest needs are considered. The survey closes September 4. GT

“SAF in the Lobby” is produced by the Society of American Florists, 1601 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; Tel: (703) 836-8700 or (800) 336-4743; Fax: (703) 836-8705; or visit the SAF Web site: www.safnow.org. For more information on legislative issues, contact the Government Relations Department.