Seattle Establishes Retirement Plan

According to a 2016 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, about 40% of employees in the Seattle metro area lack access to workplace retirement plans.

The report says that Burgess proposed the plan in late September after advocating for such legislation for more than a year. Last year, when he was still a council member, Burgess joined with Philadelphia and New York officials to lobby then-President Barack Obama’s Department of Labor to allow large cities to create city-operated retirement savings plans. The repeal by congressional Republicans of the Obama administration’s rule change last March stalled the plan, making it unclear if cities had the legal authority to create such a program.

However, the report cited Angela M. Antonelli, Georgetown University’s Center for Retirement Initiatives executive director saying that following legal guidance and discussions with other cities and states interested in automatic retirement plans, Burgess decided that there was strong legal ground to move forward with the legislation anyway.

In the report, Antonelli said that the plan could encourage other cities and states to move forward with similar legislation. “For Seattle to enact a program of this nature would put it at the forefront of a handful of cities and now several states that are determined to help their citizens be able to have greater access to and save for retirement,” she is quoted saying.