City of Philadelphia - File #: 170152

• File #: 170152
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 2/16/2017
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 2/23/2017
• Title: Urging the U.S. Senate to vote no on the resolutions of disapproval that will block U.S. Department of Labor rules governing automatic-enrollment, payroll-deduction programs for states and cities, thus preventing these entities from helping millions of people save for retirement.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Parker, Council President Clarke, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Taubenberger, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Gym, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Squilla

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
2/23/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED	Pass	16:1
2/16/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed On Next Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass

Title
Urging the U.S. Senate to vote no on the resolutions of disapproval that will block U.S. Department of Labor rules governing automatic-enrollment, payroll-deduction programs for states and cities, thus preventing these entities from helping millions of people save for retirement.

Body
WHEREAS, In August 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a rule allowing states to create auto-IRA programs by exempting them from federal retirement law - the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 - if the programs met certain conditions, thereby limiting liability. This rule would effectively allow states to direct some employers with an automatic payroll-deduction system to set aside a portion of their employees' paychecks into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA); and

WHEREAS, Based on formal feedback from various municipalities, the Department of Labor followed up with a rule in December 2016 allowing cities of a certain size (cities larger than the smallest state - Wyoming - with a population of almost 600,000) to establish auto-IRA programs; and

WHEREAS, The need for states and cities to establish these auto-IRA programs has arisen from the growing state of retirement insecurity. According to Philadelphia City Council testimony from Diane Oakley from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), there are 40 million working-age households with no retirement account assets, whether in employer-sponsored 401(k)-type plans or in IRAs; and

WHEREAS, According to the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School for Social Research, Philadelphia retirees and workers are in even worse shape than workers and retirees nationwide. Philadelphia City Council commissioned the Schwartz Center to prepare a report entitled "Are Philadelphia Residents Prepared for Retirement?", and the report found that in Philadelphia, 20 percent of retirees are poor, compared with 9 percent nationwide, and 30 percent have incomes between ...