CITY OF
SEATTLEORDINANC
E __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
titl
eAN ORDINANC
E r
elating to
employm
ent in
Seattle; adding a n
ew Chapt
er 14.36 to th
e Seattle Municipal Cod
e; and
establishing a
retirement-
savings program for c
ertain
employ
ees working in
Seattle.
body
WH
ER
EAS, an
expanding population of work
ers in
Seattle, as
els
ewh
er
e in th
e Unit
ed Stat
es, ar
e failing to sav
e ad
equat
ely for th
eir
retirement; and
WH
ER
EAS, although Social S
ecurity do
es provid
e som
e basic
retirement incom
e, it is insuffici
ent to m
eet living costs during
retirement and must b
e compl
em
ent
ed by oth
er sourc
es of
retirement savings, and a 2013 surv
ey by AARP, titl
ed "Not Making th
e Grad
e," found that 24 p
erc
ent of Washingtonians ag
ed 45 to 64 had l
ess than $25,000 in
savings and that 81 p
erc
ent wish
ed th
ey had sav
ed mor
e for th
eir
retirement; and
WH
ER
EAS, th
e growing issu
e of
retirement s
ecurity is partially du
e to diminishing acc
ess of many
employ
ees to workplac
e retirement savings plans, in addition to th
e chall
eng
es of wag
e stagnation and incr
eas
ed living costs facing low and middl
e-incom
e work
ers; and
WH
ER
EAS, a 2016 P
ew Charitabl
e Trusts study conduct
ed for Th
e City of
Seattle found that 40 p
erc
ent of
employ
ees in th
e Seattle m
etropolitan ar
ea do not hav
e acc
ess to a workplac
e retirement savings plan; and
WH
ER
EAS, th
e afor
em
ention
ed 2016 P
ew Charitabl
e Trusts study found that p
eopl
e of color and
employ
ees of small busin
ess
es in th
e Seattle m
etropolitan ar
ea ar
e particularly disadvantag
ed in t
erms of acc
ess to
retirement plans; and
WH
ER
EAS, it is w
ell
establish
ed that individuals ar
e far mor
e lik
ely to sav
e for
retirement if an option is mad
e availabl
e to th
em in th
eir workplac
e,
esp
ecially if th
ey ar
e automatically
enroll
ed into a
retirement savings plan; and
WH
ER
EAS, by providing an
effici
ent and cost-
eff
ectiv
e way to sav
e for
retirement, th
e Seattle Retirement Savings Plan would provid
e work
ers th
e opportunity to improv
e th
eir own
retirement s
ecurity and r
educ
e in
eq...
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