MA House Approves Non-Profits’ Use of State Retirement Plans

October 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Massachusetts State House has approved a bill allowing non-profit entities, which represent about 14% of the state’s workforce, to access retirement savings plans managed by the state Treasury.

The Fall River, Massachusetts, Herald News reports that Treasurer Steven Grossman said the legislation, if passed into law, would open up retirement savings options for many smaller non-profit employers currently unable to afford the cost of setting up savings plans.  

The Treasury currently oversees a deferred compensation plan for about 300,000 people and that plan has close to $5 billion in assets. Grossman said the added costs of administering the plan in a segregated fund for non-profits would be “tiny” given the infrastructure already in place to manage $5 billion in assets. 

The bill requires the treasurer to obtain approval from the Internal Revenue Service for the plan and to ensure that the plan complies with the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  

The bill contains language ensuring public bidding on plan management, Grossman said, according to the news report.

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