DOL Releases Guidance to Facilitate State-Based Retirement Initiatives

Today, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released two pieces of guidance – a proposed regulation  (the “Proposed Regulation”) and Interpretive Bulletin 2015-02 (the “IB”).  This guidance is designed to facilitate and enable the various state initiatives to increase coverage in the private sector retirement system.  Most importantly, both pieces of guidance clarify the extent to which the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) applies to these various types of initiatives.  Please see the attached memo for an overview of the guidance.