The Oregon State Treasury is trying to connect with employers who will be required to help their workers navigate a new state-sponsored retirement savings plan.

Although the plan will not get fully underway until 2018, the treasury wants as much feedback as possible from the roughly 64,000 affected employers before details are hammered out.

“We have a high interest in making sure this plan fulfills the intent of the Legislature,” treasury spokesman James Sinks said, “that this is a light touch on employers.”

Oregon is on track to become the first state in the nation to implement a retirement-savings plan for the masses of workers who aren’t covered by an employer-sponsored 401(k) or pension plan, said Joel Metlen, public engagement manager.

About 60 percent of Oregon workers, or about 1 million people, don’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan. Under legislation passed in 2015, more than 800,000 of those workers will be automatically enrolled, through their employers, in the new state-sponsored plan, unless they opt out. The remaining uncovered workforce is self-employed, and those people will be allowed to opt-in to the plan, Sinks said.

The treasury has two outreach efforts in the works, and a public hearing on the plan rules, which affect the administrative burden on employers, is set for Dec. 15 in Tigard.

Focus groups are being scheduled for the weeks of Nov. 14 and Nov. 28 in Bend, Metlen said. The treasury wants to hear from eligible employees and affected employers about how the plan should be marketed. One challenge ahead of the treasury is making sure people understand that it’s completely separate from the Public Employees Retirement System.

At the same time, Metlen is recruiting employers for a July 1, 2017, pilot launch. “We want to find people who are really interested in being involved, so we can have conversations about how it’s working,” he said.

The treasury anticipates running at least one 90-day pilot, and then gradually rolling out the plan, starting with the largest employers, Metlen said.

Some details of the plan’s operation will depend on which firm is chosen to manage it. The treasury recently closed a request for proposals and is expected to choose a firm in December, Sinks said. By year 15, the plan could have 534,000 accounts and $8.5 billion in assets under management, according to a feasibility study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Employers will not have to contribute to workers’ savings accounts or pay any fees, but according to the plan’s proposed rules, they will have to spend several hours on startup administrative tasks, and another couple of hours each month on payroll processing and records management.

The vast majority of affected employers, 53,000, are businesses with fewer than 50 employees, according to the treasury. The largest group is in professional services, such as law firms and medical practices, followed by nonprofessional services and retail, according to a Center for Retirement Research market analysis.

In the Bend metro area, 61 percent of employers, or 3,601 firms, are not offering a retirement-savings plan, the market analysis found. That affects 38,975 workers, according to the report.

Another 13,839 people in the Bend area work for firms that offer retirement savings, but they aren’t eligible, either because they work part time or they’re part of a temporary workforce.

Among employers, the reaction so far has been mixed, Sinks said. “Some feel like this is great because a lot of businesses would like to offer retirement,” he said. “Others feel like this is going to be a hassle for them.”

— Reporter: kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com, 541-617-7860