Filed at 1:52 a.m. ET
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The New Hampshire House soundly rejected a bill Wednesday that would make the state's largest employers spend 8 percent of their payroll on health insurance.
The House voted 212-128 to kill the proposal aimed at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., several grocery chains, the state's larger hospitals and major manufacturers.
The bill would have required employers with more than 1,500 workers to spend 8 percent, if a for-profit entity, or 6 percent, if a nonprofit, on employee health care.
If the amount was less, the business or nonprofit would have been required to send the difference to the state to create a health care fund to help pay for care provided the poor.
The bill was modeled after a law that was enacted last month in Maryland.
The New Hampshire Business and Industry Association opposed the bill.