California Bill Would Mandate Private Employee Retirement Savings

California lawmakers are pushing a controversial,
first-in-the-nation plan that would require private-sector employers to remove
3 percent from every worker's paycheck. The money would go into a new state
fund with a guarantee that all withheld funds plus investment gains will be
available for distribution at retirement age. The idea behind the Secure Choice
Retirement Savings Program, which got preliminary approval, is for it to be a
state-run supplement to Social Security, but only for people who don't have
traditional workplace retirement plans. For an estimated 6 million working
Californians, the benefit of a pension or 401(k) is out of reach — so state
lawmakers are trying to implement the new mandatory retirement fund for private
sector workers. But critics wonder how the state with a turbulent record of
budget-keeping and a much-ridiculed public worker pension system can be counted
on to protect people's money. "I think you'll find out that what is
promised in the (Secure Choice plan) is not possible to deliver," lobbyist
Marc Burgat contends. "If you could deliver guaranteed returns with less
than one percent costs, no employer liability, no government liability — that's
a fantasy."

Source/more: Fox News