The safe harbor proposal issued recently by the Department of Labor that paves the way for state-sponsored retirement plans said a payroll deduction-based IRA with an automatic enrollment feature will not “give rise” to the type of employee benefit plan regulated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

States have reportedly been reluctant to fully roll out state-run retirement initiatives for fear of running afoul of ERISA.

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Nick Thornton

Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.