Hawaii Seeks Executive Director to Establish State Retirement Savings Program

Hawaii’s executive branch is hiring for the first executive director of the Aloha State’s private sector retirement plan for workers without a workplace retirement plan, according to an online recruitment post at Hawaii.gov.

“The primary purpose of this position is to provide executive leadership and technical guidance and assistance to the Hawaii Retirement Savings Program within the approved budget and in a manner consistent with the Hawaii Retirement Savings law,” the post states, specifying that recruitment will be run by Hawaii’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The Hawaii legislature passed Act 296 authorizing retirement plan coverage for private sector employees who do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans in 2022. The plan is an auto-IRA arrangement—employer participation is required if no plan is already offered—with a variation: Eligible employers must notify their employees about the program and, if employees choose to opt in, employers must then facilitate contributions to the programs.  

The program is intended to be up and running by July 1, 2024.

Currently, 19 states and two cities have enacted retirement savings programs for private sector workers—accruing more than $938 million in assets for workers—according to data from the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Retirement Initiatives.

The recruitment post opened on July 18.