Add Maryland to the list of states actively looking to sponsor retirement plans for private sector workers.
Today, at a press conference attended by Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, leaders in that state's legislature announced the formation of the Commission on Maryland Retirement Security and Savings.
Perez's presence underscored the Obama Administration's intent to facilitate state-administered retirement plans that automatically enroll employees in the private sector when they don't have access to a workplace plan.
"This is the wave of the future," said Perez at the press conference, predicting that within the next five years as many as 20 states will have adopted such plans, according to reporting on BaltimoreSun.com.
In early September, the DOL sent proposed rules to the Office of Management and Budget that would make it easier for states to mandate enrollment in retirement plans.
That development came after President Obama instructed Labor to issue such guidance in July, during the White House's Conference on Aging.
Around 20 states have proposals in the pipeline that would require businesses with as few as five employees to enroll workers in state-administered savings plans.
State legislatures in Illinois, Oregon, and Washington have already passed their own bills.
