Remember a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog titled: Did a UFO Hit SFO? Well, maybe a UFO didn't strike, but San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed the "first of its kind" commuter ordinance which is suppose to reduce SFO's 2012 greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels. And, you guessed it, the employer got stuck with the tab and the responsibility.
Under the ordinance, employers will have a choice of three options to offer employees:
- Set up a program under which employees can make pretax contributions to the federal legal limit of $115 a month to pay for mass transit expenses. Not really a bad idea if the administrative burden isn't too costly or complicated....and if the transit pass is less than $115 a month. If not, does the employer make up the difference?
- Employers can directly pay for employees' transportation expenses, such as buying transit passed for employees.
- Employers can furnish transportation by setting up van pools for employees.
The ordinance, which will take effect in late December, will apply to employers with at least 20 employees and will have to be offered to employees who work an average of at least 10 hours per week.
While it may seem like a good idea and somewhat innocuous, when cumulative impact of ALL of the city's ordinances coupled with state and federal requirements, not only drains the employer's bank account but zaps the energy out of businesses struggling to stay in business and control costs.
Does any politician in SFO, or anywhere for that matter, ever put an employer's shoes on and figure out how THEY would comply with and pay for all of the laws, rules and regulations they pass?
Try it, you may not like it!
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
