in 2017 and 2018. Protecting families, consumers and small business In June 2019, Ma announced the official launch of the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers), which offers an IRA retirement savings option to employees who don't currently have one through their employer. The program also offers an option for self-employed "gig" workers who don't work as traditional employees. In October 2019, Ma announced that California's family college savings plan known as California's ScholarShare 529 had received a gold rating from Morningstar Inc, making it one of the four top college savings plan in the nation. In 2019, the "Scholar Dollars" program as part of ScholarShare 529 awarded more than $300,000 to 20 K-8 California public schools to fund technology, music, art, theater, computer science, sports, and other programs. In 2020, Ma moved to further protect these college savings accounts, sponsoring SB898 authored by State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont and signed by Gov. Newsom. The new law protects ScholarShare 529 accounts from being raided by debt collectors. As part of Governor Gavin Newsom's Master Plan for Aging, Ma co-sponsored three bills addressing the needs of older adults, people with disabilities and family caregivers: AB 1287 (Nazarian), AB 1382 (Aguiar-Curry), and SB 611(Cabellero). In 2019, the Treasurer Office's CalABLE program was expanded to allow anyone with a disability diagnosed before the age of 26 to open up an account and save up to $15,000 a year. In 2020, as part of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (iBank), Ma began administering the California Rebuilding Fund, a new public-private partnership to support California's small businesses. The fund is part of the California Governor's Office of Economic Development. High-speed rail In her first year as treasurer, Ma appointed Beverly Scott and Frederick Jordan to the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group. Ma also provided support to the SoCal-to-Las Vegas Brightline West high-speed rail project connecting Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada when she announced approval of a $300 million bond issuance for the project. The $8-billion, 170-mile long line running along Interstate 15 is slated to start construction in 2023 with trains running by 2025. "This is going to be the biggest shot in the arm that we have ever seen," said Art Bishop, a councilman and former mayor in the San Bernardino County, California area, with an expected 600 permanent jobs generated and thousands of new homes in the region. Cannabis banking