Colorado Secure Savings Plan
The Colorado secure savings plan board of trustees (board) is created and consists of the state controller, the director of the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, and 7 additional trustees with certain experience who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. The trustees on the board have a fiduciary duty to the plan's enrollees and beneficiaries and are required to:
- Establish investment options that offer employees returns on contributions without incurring debt or liabilities to the state;
- Establish the process for allocating investment earnings and losses to individual plan accounts on a pro rata basis;
- Make and enter into contracts and hire staff as necessary for the administration of the plan;
- Conduct a periodic review of the performance of any investment vendors;
- Cause moneys in the Colorado secure savings plan fund (fund) to be held and invested together in trust;
- Establish the process for an enrollee to contribute a portion of his or her wages to the plan for automatic deposit and establish the process by which the participating employer forwards those contributions to the plan;
- Establish the process for enrollment in the plan including the process by which an employee can opt not to participate in the plan;
- Accept gifts, grants, and donations from specified entities and pursue options for bank loans or a line of credit to cover the start-up costs of the plan;
- Procure, as needed, insurance against loss in connection with the property, assets, or activities of the plan;
- Allocate administrative fees to individual retirement accounts in the plan on a pro rata basis;
- Set minimum and maximum contribution levels;
- Facilitate education and outreach to employers and employees;
- Ensure that the plan complies with all applicable state and federal laws;
- Deposit all gifts, grants, donations, fees, and earnings from investment of moneys in the fund into the fund and pay the administrative costs and expenses for the creation, management, and operation of the plan from moneys in the fund;
- Determine any nominal and reasonable assistance that may be provided to businesses to offset the initial costs of enrolling employees in the plan;
- Prepare or cause to be prepared certain annual audits and annual reports regarding the plan; and
- Develop a process to ensure that employers are in compliance with the requirements of the plan and develop a penalty structure for employers who fail, without reasonable cause, to enroll employees in the plan.
The bill specifies the process by which the board is required to engage an investment manager to invest the assets of the plan and specifies the investment options that the board is required to create.
The bill creates the Colorado secure savings plan fund as a trust outside of the state treasury, specifies that the fund will include the individual retirement accounts of enrollees in the plan, and allows the board to use a certain percentage of moneys in the fund for the administrative expenses of the plan. The moneys in the fund are not property of the state and cannot be commingled with state moneys.
The board is required to design and disseminate to all employers that are required to or that choose to participate in the plan employer and employee information packets regarding the plan and the options for employee participation in the plan.
The bill dictates the timing for the board to implement the plan and a time frame for employers to establish a system by which enrollees in the plan can remit payroll deduction contributions to the plan. Employers are required to automatically enroll employees in the plan unless an employee has opted out of participation in the plan. Enrollees may select an investment option and contribution level or use the default investment option and contribution amount established by the board.
The bill specifies that the state and employers do not have any duty or liability to any party for the payments of any retirement savings benefits accrued by any individual through the plan.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)