The Illinois Senate has passed the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act, which creates an auto-enrolled payroll-deducted retirement savings account for private-sector employees in the state whose employers do not offer a retirement plan.
The act, which passed the Senate 30-22 on Wednesday, has been passed onto the House Rules Committee.
The program is for companies with 25 or more employees that have been in business for at least two years that do not currently offer a retirement plan. Employers would participate in the program, and employees who have not opted out of the program would be automatically enrolled.
Created as part of the program is the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Fund, which “shall include the individual retirement accounts of enrollees, which shall be accounted for as individual accounts,” according to the text of the bill, SB 2758.
State Sen. Daniel Biss, sponsor of the bill, said in a telephone interview, “It was a long and difficult process to work with colleagues and advocacy groups on all sides of the issue.”
“We really did a lot of work and listening and talking, and I was thrilled about (the passage of the bill),” Mr. Biss said. “In my view, the massive, massive gap between what people who set aside for retirement and what people wish they set aside for retirement is one of the most important and underdiscussed challenges in American today, and I’m excited about this bill as a major step to address that problem.”
The Illinois General Assembly is in recess until April 29, and Mr. Biss hopes the House can take up the bill before the regular session adjourns on May 31.
