Access and participation rates for retirement plans in California are among the lowest in the country. But by the end of the decade, millions of workers around the state could be enrolled automatically in a state-run program. After more than two years of work, the California “Secure Choice” Retirement Savings Investment Board has approved a number of recommendations that are being sent to the Legislature. Those will be folded into a pending bill by State Senate Leader Kevin de Leon. The goal is to put the bill on Governor Brown’s desk by this summer. State Treasurer John Chiang has been a strong supporter. He says it’s the most significant attempt to address retirement poverty since the New Deal in the 1930’s…

click to listen to John Chiang

Chiang says employees would contribute through automatic payroll deductions, starting at 5-percent and gradually going up to 10-percent, depending on what the Legislature decides…

click to listen to John Chiang

Chiang says workers would be able to opt out and the cost to a business is expected to be minimal. If approved by lawmakers and the Governor, he says “Secure Choice” could become law by January of 2017.