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Wisconsin Could be Next to Jump into State Run Retirement Plan Fray

Following the lead of many other states in what is becoming a national groundswell, Democrats in Wisconsin proposed a bill that would allow workers in private companies without a “pension” plan to invest in the state DB program. Additionally, a feasibility study was requested to review the costs and benefits of the program, which would be made available to the estimated 1.5 million private workers without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

State Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), who co-sponsored Bill 611, stated at a press conference covered by local paper Cap Times, “This is as important an issue as any we’ve talked about so far this year in the legislature. We are here to talk about the retirement crisis. And that crisis is here.”

Reactions to the proposal were mixed.

At a recent hearing on Maryland’s state-sponsored plan bill, Brian Graff, Executive Director/CEO of NAPA and ASPPA, advocated that these types of plans should be required for companies of a certain size, private solutions should qualify, there should be a clearing house for companies to choose from and that the state plans should be IRA-based and exempt from ERISA.

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