By Melanie Waddell, ThinkAdvisor
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said Tuesday at FutureWise, an event sponsored by TIAA held in Washington, that he plans to reintroduce his auto IRA bill by year-end.
Neal floated the Automatic IRA Act of 2024, legislation that would require businesses with 10 or more employees to offer a workplace retirement plan, last February.
Under that bill, these employers would be required to automatically enroll all full-time and long-term part-time employees in an automatic individual retirement account or similar plan like a 401(k). Workers could decline to participate or drop out at any time after enrollment.
Neal has been fighting for auto-IRAs since the plan was dropped from the Secure 2.0 Act.
Chris Spence, managing director at TIAA, said Tuesday at the event that Neal’s bill “has been the inspiration” for state auto-IRAs being introduced. Rhode Island introduced legislation last June to create a state-sponsored auto-IRA program, while Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill last March to facilitate access to automatic enrollment in IRAs for workers in the state.
Neal was an architect of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 and the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 — which both originated in the Ways and Means Committee.
Spence told Neal that “We’re all looking forward to Secure 3.0.”
