FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      Thursday, January 31, 2008

Contact: Senator Harold Janeway

(603) 271-3041

SENATE TO ADD EXPERTISE TO THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM

CONCORD – The Senate took a significant step today toward restructuring the New Hampshire Retirement System by passing legislation to create a new and more professional investment committee to handle investment decisions. Senate Bill 463 passed 24-0 and now heads to the House.

“One of the many factors that have contributed to the system’s current under-funded status was weak investment results over the past decade. Obviously we can’t legislate performance, but we can require the system to bring more experienced individuals into the investment process, which is what this bill does,” said Senator Harold Janeway (D-Webster), a trustee of the Retirement System who served on a recent study commission that looked at ways to improve the long-term viability of the retirement system.

Senate Bill 463 calls for an investment committee of five members “three of whom shall be experienced in the field of institutional investment.” The other two members would come from the board of trustees for the retirement system. The committee would have the authority to select investment managers and to implement the system’s investment policy set by the trustees.

The legislation also calls for the addition of new members with experience in financial and accounting matters to the retirement system’s Audit Committee. 

This is the first act of the Senate to make concrete the recommendations developed by the special study commission. Other legislation is moving forward in the House.

The New Hampshire Retirement System serves 53,000 public employees—teachers, firefighters, police officers and state and local government workers—and 20,000 retired members.

“The long term viability of the retirement system is of great importance not only to the participants but also to the taxpayers. We must take every reasonable step to see that it is on the right course,” Janeway said.