Millions more workers would have access to private retirement accounts under a proposal approved Wednesday by the Illinois General Assembly. It would require companies with at least 25 employees, which do not already offer retirement plans, to automatically enroll workers in a new type of individual retirement account.
State Senator Daniel Biss, a Democrat from Evanston, says it’s intended to bridge a “retirement gap” estimated at between six and 14 trillion dollars.
“That’s the gap between what people say they would like to have saved -- based upon the lifestyle they would like to live in retirement -- and what they have actually saved. This is a crisis coming at us like a freight train, and it will burden individuals and families and government."
Biss says Illinois would be the first state to implement this kind of program. Some Republicans argued this is another example of Illinois putting more burdens on employers.
