Boston Harbor and Financial District at sunset in Boston, Massachusetts.
While most states are in various stages of developing a state-mandated auto-IRA retirement program, Massachusetts is now getting closer, since state lawmakers included the Secure Choice Savings Program in the state budget that both chambers passed on Monday, and is now awaiting Governor Maura Healey’s signature.
The program is part of a much broader measure —the state’s fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill. The bill also calls for the creation of the Massachusetts Secure Choice Savings Board, which would be responsible for ongoing fiduciary administrative oversight of the program. It would be accountable to the state treasurer, governor, comptroller, secretary of the commonwealth and the House and Senate committees on ways and means.
If legislation is passed, Massachusetts employers with 25+ employees that do not offer a retirement plan will be required to offer the state-sponsored plan. Employers would be required to automatically enroll their employees – or face a $250 per employee fine for non-compliance – and establish a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement by which employees would contribute at least 6% of their pay to their accounts.
Workers would always control their contribution level and could opt out at any time; no one would be required to participate.
Last month, Maine’s House and Senate approved legislation that requires employers with three or more employees that don’t offer a retirement plan to their employees to register with the state-run Maine Retirement Savings Program. The legislation is now pending. Under current law, employers with five or more employees that do not offer a retirement plan to their employees must register with MERIT.
Related: States with auto-IRAs: Employees ae 20% more likely to contribute to retirement savings
Auto-IRA and other state-facilitated retirement options now operate in 20 states, with additional states at various stages of implementation. Since 2012, every state except Alabama has either enacted or introduced legislation that would establish state-facilitated retirement savings programs. Rhode Island RISavers program, which is a pilot retirement program administered by Vestwell, is expected to launch in 2025.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, “supports efforts to identify barriers to retirement savings,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB. However, NFIB slammed the Massachusetts Legislature for “slipping the ‘Secure Choice Savings Program’” into the 2026 budget “without a public hearing to determine the financial impact on Massachusetts small businesses and their workers,” said Carlozzi.
The NFIB does “not support another payroll mandate on employers forcing them to manage and administer a new state-run program or face hefty fines and lawsuits," said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB.
However, the AARP sent a letter to Governor Healey, urging her to sign the bill “because we know Americans are 15 times more likely to save for retirement if they have a savings account at work,” wrote Jennifer Benson, State Director, AARP.
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