Senate Finance advances 'Alaska Work and Save' CS after failing to raise small‑business threshold

The Senate Finance Committee on March 26 adopted the committee substitute (version H) for Senate Bill 21, a statewide automatic‑IRA/retirement‑savings program branded in committee as "Alaska Work and Save," and moved the CS to the Rules Committee.

Liz Harpold, staff to Senator Olson, explained the CS would place administration with the Department of Revenue (removing Department of Labor involvement), eliminate fines and penalties for noncompliant employers, and define "employer" to apply to businesses with more than five employees that have been in business at least three years. Bill Wilakowski, who testified in support, said the CS reflects committee input and that the sponsor sought to design the program to be light touch for employers.

Senator Kaufman offered Amendment #1 to raise the mandatory threshold to businesses that employ more than 10 persons and to clarify the program is voluntary for smaller employers. "The intent of it is just to reduce the mandatory workload on very small businesses," Kaufman said. Sponsor Bill Wilakowski opposed the amendment, arguing that raising the threshold would exclude employers the program is intended to reach and could increase costs for remaining accounts by shrinking the pool. He also noted the CS removed penalties and aims to be a low‑burden program for employers.

The committee held a roll‑call vote on the amendment; the tally was 3 yeas and 4 nays. Yes votes: Senators Merrick, Cronk and Kaufman. No votes: Senators Kiel, Stedman, Hoffman and Olson. The amendment therefore failed and the CS remained as written.

Senator Stedman then moved the CS from committee with attached and forthcoming fiscal notes; there was no objection and the bill was referred to the Rules Committee for further consideration.