The Department of Labor will issue guidance on state mandates that require small businesses to automatically enroll employees in IRAs by the end of the year.
That announcement was made at Monday's Conference on Aging, hosted at the White House.
At least 20 states have proposals in the pipeline that would require businesses with, in some cases, as few as five employees to enroll employees in savings plans. Initiatives in Oregon, Washington and Illinois have already passed.
But confusion as to whether or not employers that are required to enroll workers will be subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has stalled some efforts at the state level.
The DOL's guidance will address those questions and pave the way for wider adoption of enrollment mandates at the state level, according to President Obama, who said he has instructed to DOL to post guidance by the end of the year during his opening remarks at the Conference on Aging.
Obama said every budget proposal he has advanced included a federal mandate for comprehensive IRA enrollment, but Congressional inaction has slowed the effort.
