Legislature: health benefits coverage.

Existing law, as added by Proposition 112, adopted June 5, 1990, establishes the California Citizens Compensation Commission and requires the commission to establish the annual salary and the medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits of state officers, including Members of the Legislature. The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, which governs health care coverage available to public employees, specifies that a Member of the Legislature is eligible to enroll in an approved health benefit plan, as defined, pursuant to that act. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would instead provide that the only health benefit plans available to a Member of the Legislature who is elected to or serving in office on or after January 1, 2016, with respect to his or her service as a Member of the Legislature, are health benefit plans that are offered through the Exchange. The bill would require the state to reimburse the Member of the Legislature for the cost of coverage in an amount not to exceed the amount of the state employer's contribution for coverage for a Member as of December 31, 2015.