Elements and Funding of Mandate Laws

¶ … United States, the federal government attempts only to step in on state regulation of civil matters when the issue is ubiquitous enough to cover national importance. In such cases, the federal government issues mandate laws, that force states to adhere to federal regulations on certain matters, which are often required to be funded by the federal government in order to take the burden off of the state itself. There are a number of mandate laws here in the United States, including the Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which impact not only the way citizens experience their daily lives but also the fiscal and budgetary operations of public organizations.

First, the Fair Labor and Standards Act was passed by the federal government in order to assure employees in the United States received a fair wage and were not exploited by their employers. It established a federal minimum wage of $7.25 that was enacted in 2009, forcing all employers in the United States to reach that minimum payment for employee hourly work (United States Department of Labor, 2013). However, many states, like California, have increased that bottom line for the minimum wage based on the altered standards of living that typically differ from the rest of the nation. The State of California recently increased its minimum wage to $9.25, with plans on increasing the wage limits annually until it reaches $15. The FLSA also establishes the 40-hour work week, with regulated standards of overtime pay when an employee's hours exceed that 40 hours (United States Department of Labor, 2013). There are also mandated provisions against child labor, with minimum age limits set at 16 years of age, with parental approval. Enforcement of the statutes seen in the FSLA falls on the shoulders of the United States Department of Labor. Ultimately, it is this department that must fund investigations against employers after employees take up charges. The Wage and Hour Division is especially set up for the enforcement of the FLSA and requires funding within the larger budgetary operations of the United States Department of Labor. According to the 2015 Congressional Budget Justification Wage and Hour Division, the allocated budget for the operations of this public office was $265,766,000. States with additional laws and regulations advocating workers rights must then also apply their own budgetary measures to augment the work of the Wages and Hours Division.

A very controversial mandate law is the Affordable Care Act. This federal mandate has two smaller mandates within it, the individual mandate which requires individuals to have health insurance and the employer mandate, which states that "all businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTE) provide health insurance to at least 95% of their full-time employees and dependents up to age 26, or pay a fee by 2016" (Obamacare Facts, 2015). Individuals who fail to have the proper health coverage are forced to pay a penalty, while employers that do not meet the requirements set for employees have to pay penalties as well. Yet, nearly 96% of employers that have fewer than 50 employees are typically "exempt from the employer responsibility provisions" (Obamacare Facts, 2015). Both federal and state budgets are affected by this mandate, with an estimated $100 billion in funding that will be allocated over a period of ten years (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013). On a federal level, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Services are all included in enforcing the mandate, and thus need augmentation to their annual budgets to cover the operations. Medicare and Medicaid, under the Department of Health and Human Services, drastically had changes in funding and budgetary elements, as many of the new elements of the Act redefined who was included within the scope of these programs. The IRS has to work on accepting and approving tax credits for small business, as well as fining both individuals and businesses that fail to adhere to the new standards set by the mandates. States are forced to provide healthcare options for their citizens. Thus, states also receive funding for their part in the coverage. California has the highest funding, at $1,143,000,000 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013). Total funding allocated to states is around $12.1 billion.