September 24, 2026 • News

State-Mandated Private Sector Retirement Program to Launch December 2026

The State of Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) is developing the Hawaii Retirement Savings Program (HRSP), also known as HISavers, for private sector employees in Hawaii who do not have access to a retirement savings plan through their employer, as directed by Act 113, signed into law May 29, 2025. Under the HRSP, employers with at least one employee must either:

• Enroll in and facilitate HISavers, which is a state-facilitated, payroll-deduction Roth IRA (into which after-tax dollars are contributed), or
• Offer employee(s) a qualifying retirement plan, such as a 401(k), or
• Offer a Pooled Employer Plan (PEP), administered by a third-party Pooled Plan Provider (PPP)

Employer responsibilities include:

• Automatically enrolling and notifying eligible employees in writing of both their enrollment and their right to opt out
  • Any covered employee denied enrollment into HISavers may file a civil action for injunctive relief
• Deducting contributions from employees’ paychecks through payroll deduction; the default contribution is 5% of wages deducted from each paycheck
• Transmitting contributions to HISavers in a timely manner
• Maintaining and updating employee information in the HRSP portal
• Penalty for non-compliance could be up to $5,000 per calendar year

Employers are NOT:

• Required or permitted to make contributions to HISavers accounts
• Fiduciaries for employees with respect to HISavers

The HISavers portal is projected to launch in late December 2026. 

See the DLIR site for FAQs for both employers and employees, or to sign up to receive program updates, announcements and resources.