California just passed a law that will force a business with five or more employees to enroll its workers in a state-run retirement savings program if the business doesn’t provide any other qualified savings plan.
Gov. Jerry Brown has 30 days to sign or veto California Secure Choice, which lawmakers passed Aug. 31, 2016. Most observers expect he will approve the law, which would then go into effect Jan. 1, 2017. It will take awhile for the state to set up the program, and it will impact larger employors–those with 100 or more workers, first. They would have one year to comply. Smaller companies would have up to two more years to set up their own plans or automatically enroll their workers in the state-run program. Workers would have to opt out if they didn’t want to participate.
Other states have similar laws in the works or under consideration as policymakers look for ways to solve the nation’s looming retirement savings crisis. Read more in my article at Captain401.com.