Seattle council member has plan to help workers save for retirement but Congress may kill it

[TexasTowelie]

For the past year, Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess has been working on a proposal to have businesses without retirement plans automatically enroll their employees in a city plan providing each with an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

In theory, the plan could enroll as many as 200,000 Seattle workers, Burgess says.

Joined by counterparts in New York City and Philadelphia, the council member successfully lobbied President Barack Obama’s Department of Labor last year for a rule change giving large cities legal wiggle room to implement such a plan.

But congressional Republicans are trying to repeal the rule change for cities and a related change for states.

Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-council-member-has-plan-to-help-workers-save-for-retirement-but-congress-may-kill-it/

[riversedge]

1. A number of states, including Oregon and California, have enacted plans similar to what Burgess w

Congress needs to keep their noses out of local bills. Helping folks with retirement funds should be seen as positive IMHO.



.............A number of states, including Oregon and California, have enacted plans similar to what Burgess wants in Seattle, and other states are considering the same.

It’s unclear whether Congress repealing last year’s rule changes would stop the states from moving ahead.

This month’s House vote split along party lines: Only one Democrat voted for the repeal, and only three Republicans voted against it.

Burgess and his allies are asking Democrats in the Senate for help, but unless some Republicans join them, the repeal will likely succeed.
Daniel Beekman: 206-464-2164