Nearly 7 million California workers will eventually have access to a new state-run retirement plan.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1234 on Thursday, establishing the program. Workers at private companies in California without employer-sponsored retirement plans will be automatically enrolled.
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León authored the bill and called its signing a big deal.
"It is morally unjust that so many hardworking Californians, irrespective of who they are or where they come from, work well into their 60s and 70s and even 80s, not by choice, but out of necessity," he said.