On January 4, 2015, outgoing Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn signed The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act, requiring any business in operation for at least two years that has 25 employees or more in Illinois, and that does not have a qualified retirement plan, to offer its employees an individual retirement savings plan by June 1, 2017.

Covered employers will be required to enroll employees into a newly created, state-sponsored Roth IRA program that comes with a default 3% payroll deduction contribution. Employers will not be required to contribute. Employees will be able to choose a different contribution amount or opt out of the program entirely, though supporters say they expect most employees who currently have no retirement savings option at work will choose to participate.

None of this will happen immediately. The Act contains only an outline of the program and provides for a board to be appointed that will design the final program during a planned 24-month startup period. But before the board can take significant action, it must obtain start-up funding for the program, through future state appropriations or donations. Once the board obtains funding and designs the program, employers will have nine more months to enroll employees before facing penalties.

We will keep you informed once solid information and directives are available.