Washington, D.C., March 10, 2025 – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) last week wrote to Chair Kolkhorst and Members of the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services expressing concerns that state policies, such as those proposed by SB 1122, would interfere with the design and administration of self-funded health benefit plans governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Given the rising cost of prescription drugs and the growing interest in regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), ERIC urged the Committee to address the ERISA preemption issues raised by SB 1122 to avoid legal challenges seen in other states. An ERIC statement can be found below and is attributable to Dillon Clair, Director of State Advocacy for ERIC.
“At last count, more than 50 top corporations have headquartered their operations in Texas, making it the number one state in the nation for Fortune 500 companies. The business climate in Texas is anchored by reasonable tax policy, common sense regulation, and a skilled workforce. While those companies are headquartered in Texas, they have nationwide workforces; ERISA provides them the flexibility and security to design and deliver effective health benefit plans at scale to serve the needs of their employees and their families. We share Texas lawmakers’ goal of reducing prescription drug costs, and ERIC is ready to work with lawmakers to do so in ways that do not violate federal law. Unless bills such as SB 1122 are amended to limit state regulatory overreach, the policies they propose will threaten to erode ERISA preemption protections and severely undermine the ability of employers to provide high quality, affordable health benefits to their nationwide workforces. If employers are once again subjected to an unworkable patchwork of inconsistent and conflicting state laws and mandates across the country, working Texans and their families could ultimately lose access to the critical health care benefits they have long enjoyed.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.