GovTrack’s Bill Summary
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H.R. 859 (111th): Small Business CHOICE Act of 2009
- Introduced:
- Feb 04, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Nydia Velázquez [D-NY12]
- Status:
- Died (Referred to Committee)
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
2/4/2009--Introduced.
Small Business Cooperative for Healthcare Options to Improve Coverage for Employees (CHOICE) Act of 2009 or the Small Business CHOICE Act of 2009 - Provides for the establishment and governance of Fully Funded Small Business Health Insurance cooperatives, which are small businesses that form a captive insurance company chartered in a qualified state to provide excess claims coverage insurance that meets certain qualifications to its members. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an independent commission on Fully Funded Small Business Health Insurance Cooperatives to: (1) promote the development of such cooperatives; (2) make recommendations to the Secretary regarding minimum capital requirements; and (3) conduct oversight of such cooperatives.
Exempts such cooperatives from certain state laws, rules, regulations, or orders, including any that would: (1) prohibit the establishment of a cooperative; (2) impose any material requirements, procedures, or standards on a cooperative that are not generally applicable to other entities engaged in a substantially similar business; or (3) discriminate against a cooperative or any of its members.
Preempts any state law that conflicts with, hinders, poses an obstacle to, or frustrates the purpose of this Act.
Sets forth provisions governing the provision of claims information, including protected health information, from health insurance issuers to cooperatives.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the small business CHOICE tax credit for small employers for costs related to providing qualified employer-subsidized health coverage for employees and their families. Disallows such a credit unless the employee offers a qualified small business wellness program to covered employees and family members.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
No summary available.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
Slip Laws
Slip laws refer to enacted bills and joint resolutions in their original form as enacted by Congress, that is, before other laws amend them. Slip laws are cited as “Public Law XXX-YYY”, where XXX is the number of the Congress in which the bill or resolution was introduced.
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 15: COMMERCE AND TRADE
- Chapter 14A: AID TO SMALL BUSINESS
- Section 631: Declaration of policy
- Section 632: Definitions