2024 STATE PROGRAM STATUS

Since 2012, at least 48 states and the District of Columbia have acted to implement a new program, study program options, or consider legislation to establish state-facilitated retirement savings programs.

Since 2015, at least one or two states each year have enacted new state-facilitated retirement savings programs. Last year, during the 2023 state legislative sessions, at least 25 states introduced legislation to establish new programs, amend existing programs, or form study groups to explore their options. Three new auto-IRA programs were enacted in 2023 – Minnesota, Nevada, and Vermont and one new Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) in Missouri. Vermont changed its existing program from a voluntary MEP to an auto-IRA program.

In 2024, at least 26 states once again introduced legislation to establish new programs, amend existing programs, or form study groups to explore their options. Two new auto-IRA programs were enacted – Washington enacted a new auto-IRA program in addition to their already existing Retirement Marketplace and Rhode Island enacted a new auto-IRA program.

As of December 2024, there are 20 states that have enacted new programs for private sector workers (and also 2 cities (for a total of 22 programs), although the cities will not move forward to implement due to state legal and program actions) and 17 of these states are auto-IRA program states (see caveats below the chart about the Hawai’i and Washington programs).

As of December 2024, the following states have enacted new programs or amended existing programs:

• Illinois enacted program amendments provide that participating employers may (rather than shall) designate an open enrollment period during which employees who previously opted out of the Secure Choice Savings Program may enroll in the Program. Provides that an employer shall always retain the option to set up a qualified retirement plan (rather than any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan). Removes offering an automatic enrollment payroll deduction IRA from a list of qualified retirement plans.
• New York enacted program amendments to allow freelancers and independent contractors the ability to voluntarily join the state program.
• Rhode Island enacted the new Rhode Island Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, a new auto-IRA program.
• Vermont enacted program amendments to provide administrative discretion for the timing of employer participation and set a no later than July 1, 2026 launch. The Vermont Saves opened to all eligible employers on December 4, 2024.
• Virginia enacted a program amendment that renamed the Virginia College Savings Plan as the Commonwealth Savers Plan.
• Washington enacted the new Washington Saves Program, intended as a new auto-IRA program. Because WA already has a marketplace, the new program does not increase the number of states with programs.

2024 STATE LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Visit the CRI Supporters Homepage to access the 2024 state legislative map, detailed information on the progress of state program implementations, the State Resource Center and much more.

2024 State Program Information Map
Click on this map to view quick links for program states
Click here to view 2024 map with detailed state legislative activity updates (login required)

Programs enacted (2012-present)

2024 STATE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION UPDATES

22 Programs (20 states and 2 cities)

To date, new programs have adopted one or a combination of these four models:

• Auto-IRA (employer participation required if no plan is already offered)
• Payroll deduction IRA (voluntary)
• Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) (voluntary)
• Marketplace (voluntary)

There are now 22 enacted retirement savings programs (20 states and 2 cities**) for private sector workers.

As of December 2024, 13 of the 20 state programs (11 auto-IRA – CA, CO, CT, DE, IL, MD, ME, NJ, OR, VA, VT) and 2 others – MA (MEP) and WA (Marketplace) are open to all eligible employers and workers.

*The Hawaii program is a variation on the auto-IRA model.  Eligible employers must notify their employees about the program and, if employees choose to opt-in to the program, employers must then facilitate contributions to the programs.  The program has proposed legislative amendments to change the program to the traditional auto-IRA model requiring employer participation and employee opt-out, but these amendments have thus far failed to pass.

**New York City’s program will no longer be implemented because New York State enacted an auto-IRA program and New York City would now become part of the state program. The Seattle, WA program is on hold indefinitely pending state legislative action.

***Vermont has changed its state program from a voluntary MEP enacted in 2017 to an auto-IRA program in 2023.  Program amendment legislation enacted in 2024 specifies the program should launch no later than July 1, 2026. The current timeline will launch the program well in advance of this deadline. The Vermont Saves Pilot Program, in partnership with Colorado, launched in October 2024.  The program opened to all eligible employers and employees in December 2024. Employers are required to register by February 2025.

****Washington enacted a new auto-IRA program in March 2024.  Because WA already has a voluntary marketplace and it remains in place, the enactment of the new auto-IRA program does not increase the number of states with programs.

*****The New Mexico Work and $ave IRA Program was scheduled to be implemented on or before July 1, 2024, but has since been placed on an indefinite hold with no known new implementation date.

For an overview of all the state programs (with hyperlinks to state program websites and additional information), see State-Facilitated Retirement Savings Programs: A Snapshot of Plan Design Features (23-03, June 30, 2023 UPDATE).

PROGRAM LAUNCH AND EMPLOYER TIMELINES

The lessons from older auto-IRA programs (i.e., OR, IL, and CA) suggest that state programs can shorten their timelines for onboarding employers. Also, the creation of new inter-state partnerships supports shorter launch and onboarding timelines, as illustrated by the more recent launch of Maine’s MERIT program.

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Auto-IRA programs:

California: CalSavers opened to all eligible employers in July 2019. Employers with 5 or more employees that have not received a notice to register in past years must register by December 31, 2023. Eligible employers with 1-4 employees should register by December 31, 2025.

Colorado: The Colorado Secure Savings Program launched its pilot program in October 2022 and opened to all eligible employers on January 18, 2023. The registration deadline for newly eligible employers as of April 2024 was May 15, 2024.

Connecticut: MyCTSavings launched its employer pilot program at the end of October 2021 and opened to all eligible employers on April 1, 2022. The first wave of the program (for employers with 100 or more employees) was completed in June 2022; the second wave (26-99 employees) was completed in October 2022; and the third and final wave (5-25 employees) was completed in March 2023. The program deadline for all employers was extended to August 31, 2023.

Delaware: The DE EARNS Pilot Program for employers and employees launched on May 1, 2024. The full program opened to all eligible employers on July 1, 2024. Employers were required to register by October 15, 2024.

Illinois: Illinois Secure Choice rolled out three of its five waves of eligible employer registrations between 2018 and 2019, but two new waves of smaller employers were authorized to be added in 2021 (the program expanded the number of employers covered by law from those with 25 or more employees to those with 5 or more employees). The fourth wave (16-24 employees) was completed in November 2022, and the registration deadline for the fifth wave (5-15 employees) was November 1, 2023.

Maine: MERIT opened its Pilot Program for employers and employees in October 2023. The full program launch, open to all eligible employers, began in January 2024. Employers with 15 or more employees were required to register by April 30, 2024, those with less than 15 employees were required to register by June 30, 2024, and final deadline for all covered employers is December 31, 2024.

Maryland: Maryland$aves launched its pilot in June 2022 and the full program launched on September 15, 2022. Employers were required to register by December 1, 2022.

New Jersey: The New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Pilot Program for employers and employees launched May 15, 2024. The full program opened to all eligible employers on June 30, 2024. However, there is a phased timeline for employers to register that required those with 40 or more employees to register by September 15, 2024, and those with fewer than 40 (25-39 employees) to register by November 15, 2024.

Oregon: OregonSaves opened to employers in 2017, and it is currently completing the onboarding of the smallest employers (those with 4 or fewer employees). The registration deadline for businesses with at least one employee was July 31, 2023. The registration deadline for newly eligible employers was July 31, 2024.

Vermont: The Vermont Saves Pilot Program, in partnership with Colorado, launched in October 2024. The program opened to all eligible employers and employees as of December 2024. Employers are required to register by February 2025.

Virginia: The RetirePathVA retirement savings program facilitated by the Commonwealth Savers Plan opened its pilot program in February 2023, and the program opened to all eligible employers on June 20, 2023. All employers were required to register by February 15, 2024.

Programs in Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington are developing and finalizing implementation timelines.

It is important to note that any employer can registered to participate in a state program at any time and does not have to wait for their enrollment wave or phase to do so.  The deadline serves as a comply by date. 

Other State Programs: The Massachusetts’ CORE MEP opened for enrollment in October 2017, and the Washington State Retirement Marketplace opened in March 2018. The New Mexico Retirement Plan Marketplace and the New Mexico Work and $ave IRA Program had a July 1, 2024 implementation deadline, but the implementation date has since been delayed with no new date set.

State Partnerships: The first state partnerships were forged in 2023. The Colorado Partnership for a Dignified Retirement (Colorado SecureSavings Program) has now entered into inter-state agreements with three program states as of July 1, 2024: Delaware, Maine and Vermont.

On June 26, 2024, the Colorado Secure Savings Program and Vermont Saves announced a partnership (View press release).

On December 7, 2023, the Delaware EARNS board approved negotiating a final partnership agreement with the Colorado Partnership for a Dignified Retirement (View press release).

In June 2023, the Colorado Secure Savings Program and the Maine Retirement Investment Trust agreed to finalize the details of an interstate partnership, which was officially announced on August 15, 2023 (View press release).

In November 2021, the Colorado Secure Savings Program and the New Mexico Work and $ave Program signed a first-in-the-country Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to pursue a formalized partnership agreement for their auto-enroll IRA programs. The MoC highlights areas of collaboration including shared program administration and financial services, marketing and outreach support, program evaluation and research, as well as data collection and participant privacy. As of June 2023, the Colorado and New Mexico partnership is currently on hold pending additional potential modifications to the design of the New Mexico state program.