The Senate is positioning to scuttle an ambitious California effort to create retirement security for low-income workers, with a vote Wednesday morning that aims to block the state and others from launching programs to automatically enroll millions of people in IRA-type savings plans. Wednesday’s roll call brings to a head an early confrontation between the state and the Trump-era Congress. “Too many small business employees don’t have a way to save for retirement out of their regular paycheck,” said a statement from AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. Opponents of the programs, which would set aside a small percentage of earnings in retirement accounts for 6.8 million workers in California alone, warn they lack the federal investor protections of existing retirement plans. California and other states were moved to address the large share of the workforce not enrolled in any retirement plan after efforts to create a federal "automatic IRA" program stalled years ago.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 03, 2017 11:02 UTC