Headlines about "Ret plan investments - social"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
CalSTRS Adds Public Health Criteria to Investment Policy Statement
Excerpt: "The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has added a new plank to its investment policy calling for a consideration of public health issues when deciding on future investment moves. CalSTRS' Investment Committee unanimously approved the addition of the public health criterion on the motion of State Treasurer Bill Lockyer. A Lockyer news release said the component was added to CalSTRS' Environment, Social and Governance Policy (ESG), which measurers risk and governs decisions related to CalSTRS investments." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Big Funds Eye Reinvesting in Tobacco Firms
Excerpt: "[C]alifornia's public pension fund system is considering reversing its policy of refusing to invest in tobacco companies. The California State Teachers' Retirement System, the nation's third-largest public pension fund with $162 billion in assets, could vote as early as this fall on a plan to start buying tobacco stocks, which it has shunned since 2000." (The New York Sun)

Two Public Pension Funds' Virtuous Mistake: CalPERS and CalSTRS Do-Good Investment Strategy Has Cost California Retirees Billions
Excerpt: "Eight years ago, then-state treasurer Philip Angelides launched his 'Double Bottom Line' initiative, espousing a philosophy of profits and social reform. As part of the plan, the $239 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) dropped investments in countries that lacked a free press, labor unions, and other hallmarks of democracy. CalPERS and the $162 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) also dumped tobacco stocks and plowed money into businesses and real estate that would benefit the local economy." (BusinessWeek)

NH Retirement Systems Must Divest Sudan-Related Holdings
Excerpt: "Under a bill signed into law by New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, the state retirement system board of trustees and the judicial retirement plan board of trustees must divest assets relating to Sudan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Mercer's HRadio Podcast, July 15, 2008
This week's lineup includes: News highlights; Understanding health care predictive models; Hurdles in the road to global pay; Socially responsible investing goes mainstream. Total time: 15:26 (Mercer LLC)

Social Investing Revisited?
Excerpt: "There appears to be a continuing debate, with the Department of Labor's involvement, between the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce concerning use of plan assets in proxy voting and shareholder related activities as well as in connection with union organizing campaigns and union goals in collective bargaining negotiations." (Pension Protection Act Blog)

Green 401(k) Plans
Excerpt: "Even though socially responsible investing (SRI) has been around for decades, only recently have some companies begun to offer their employees greener options for 401(k) retirement investment accounts. According to Rona Fried of SustainableBusiness.com, SRI options for retirement plans are still only offered to about 20 percent of employees, but that's changing fast." (HealthNewsDigest.com)

ProxyDemocracy Web Site Provides Tools to Help Investors Put Their Voting Power to Use
Excerpt: "ProxyDemocracy provides a set of tools to help investors use their voting power to produce positive changes in the companies they own. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan project supported by foundations that are themselves interested in being responsible investors." (ProxyDemocracy)

Twenty States Have Passed, or Are Considering, Divestment Laws, for Pension Funds
Excerpt: "Divestments will, however, hurt U.S. taxpayers if Iran-tainted stocks are sold at depressed prices. Fund managers at Calstrs predict that its substitute non-Iranian stocks will yield $200 million a year less in returns. This year, from the 20 states enacting legislation, $8 billion in total divestment can be expected with $70 million in transaction costs. Any losses will be borne by taxpayers, who are on the hook for public employee pensions." (Forbes.com)

[Opinion] Tide May Be Turning Against Practice of Divesting Pension Funds from Terrorist States
Excerpt: "These well-intended political initiatives are a festering sore for pension funds. They force public trustees to violate their duty of loyalty and put political interests ahead of the sole interest of their beneficiaries. At minimum, divestment laws impose administrative headaches and financial losses on pension plans -- losses that are not reimbursed by legislatures. At worst, they seriously impair investment returns and impose costs on future generations who will be forced to pick up the tab for investment underperformance." (Governing.com)

CalPERS Toughens Standards on Corporate Governance
Excerpt: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System wants companies in its investment portfolio to be environmentally responsible and to have diverse boards of directors. The investment committee of the world's largest public pension fund voted to affirm those standards during Monday's meeting in Sacramento, adding them to the system's Global Principles of Accountable Corporate Governance." (The Sacramento Bee)

Maine Rejects Bid to Divest Investment
Excerpt: "Bucking a committee recommendation and a vote in the Senate, the Maine House is rejecting a bill calling for a divestiture of pension funds in companies doing business in Iran." (AP via International Business Times)

Proposed - that Two Largest Texas Pension Funds Loan Money for Infrastructure Projects
Excerpt: "Senate Finance Committee chairman Steve Ogden floated the idea of a public-private partnership to invest in roads and other infrastructure in Texas, possibly using state pension fund money. His rationale: if the likes of Spanish company Cintra are willing to pony up billions of dollars (eventually) to build and operate roads in Texas, why not get the state's big pension funds into the deals as lenders or investors?" (The Austin American-Statesman)

State Divestment Legislation
Excerpt: "Growing concern over genocide in Sudan and countries that sponsor terrorism has prompted state legislatures to consider actions to limit or eliminate state investments in firms doing business with such countries. Legislation includes total divestment of the states interests in firms doing business in targeted divestment focused on specific firms and shareholder engagement strategies. The . . . charts summarize enacted legislation from 2005 and 2006 and bills introduced in the 2007 and 2008 legislative sessions." (National Conference of State Legislatures)

Institutional Investors Fuel Surge in Socially Responsible Investing
Excerpt: "The growth in socially conscious investing -- now comprising $1 of every $11 invested -- is being driven both by 'growing institutional investor demand and by a host of factors driving retail investor demand,' said Cheryl Smith, executive vice president at Trillium Asset Management. Institutional investors have acquired the largest slice of the socially screened assets. The $1.9 trillion in institutional assets was up 27% from 2006, when the last bi-annual report was released." (Financial Week; free registration required)

Resources on Mandatory Divestment Issues
The association has published a list of publications, with links to fulltext, on the issue of divestment. (National Association of State Retirement Administrators)

NYC Public Pensions to Companies - Reveal Political Payouts
Excerpt: "Acting on behalf of New York City's Pension Funds, William C. Thompson, Jr., the city's comptroller, is asking ten of America's biggest companies to disclose their political contributions. Thompson submitted the resolution to: Halliburton Corp.; Duke Energy; Charles Schwab Corp.; DTE Energy; Wal-Mart; United Technologies; Devon Energy; Computer Sciences Corp.; Entergy Corp.; and Union Pacific. United Technologies has already has agreed to adopt the proposal." (CFO.com)

[Opinion] Michigan Governor Calls for Pension Plan Investment in State
Excerpt: "For seven straight years, Michigan has lost jobs and currently suffers the nation's highest unemployment rate. So, what do we say about this species of socially responsible investing?" (Cypen and Cypen)

[Opinion] The Socially Responsible Investing Fiduciary Cop-Out, Round 2
Excerpt: "Fiduciary law assesses prudence and loyalty based upon the care, skill, diligence and reasonableness of the manner in which decisions are made, not based upon the outcomes of those decisions. [Environmental, social and governance] factors provide attractive opportunities to enhance investment decision making." (Blaine Aikin of Fiduciary360 published by ProducersWEB)

Maybe Those Who Practice Socially Re­­sponsible Investing Should Settle for Lower Returns – and More Satisfaction
Excerpt: "For some conscientious investors who deploy capital in part to tackle thorny social and environmental problems, the time may have come to adopt a new goal: lowering expectations for financial returns. That idea represents heresy at mutual fund companies committed to socially re­­sponsible investing (SRI). For decades, they have insisted that investors can 'do well by doing good' – that is, address moral issues and still grow wealth at competitive rates." (The Christian Science Monitor)

[Guidance Overview] DOL's Opinion Letter on Pension Assets and Politically Motivated Proxy Activity
Excerpt: "Under ERISA, plan fiduciaries must act solely in the interest of plan participants and beneficiaries. Plan fiduciaries may not increase expenses, sacrifice investment returns or reduce the security of plan benefits to support or promote goals not directly related to the plan.' (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

[Opinion] Labor Union Pension Funds - Undertaking 'to Monitor or Influence the Management of Corporations'
Excerpt: "As public companies sift through shareholder proposals in preparation for their annual meetings, a recent Labor Department action could indicate stepped-up scrutiny of one of the most activist investor groups -- labor-union pension funds." (The Wall Street Journal)

Improving Corporate Governance at CalPERS
Excerpt: "Calpers proposed 33 resolutions last year -- more than twice the number filed in 2006. A record six came to a vote, snaring an average of nearly 63% of votes cast, according to ISS Governance Services, the proxy-advisory unit of RiskMetrics Group Inc. Calpers expects to file as many resolutions this year as it did in 2007. Mr. Johnson broke another record by hanging 11 companies out to dry on Calpers's 2007 'Focus List,' a tally of underperforming companies that the fund has put out annually since 1992." (The Wall Street Journal)

Job Market Paper: Corporate Governance Objectives of Labor Union Shareholders (PDF)
44 pages. Excerpt: "I examine the proxy votes of AFL-CIO pension funds in director elections of 503 companies from 2003 to 2006. Using the 2005 AFL-CIO breakup as a source of exogenous variation in the union affiliations of workers across firms, I find that AFL-CIO affiliated shareholders become significantly more supportive of director nominees once the AFL-CIO no longer represents workers at a given firm." (Ashwini K. Agrawal, University of Chicago, via HR Policy Association)

Overview: Sudan Divestment Law Signed by President Bush
Excerpt: "The new law specifically provides the authority to require divestment from companies that State or local governments determine are conducting (or have direct investments in) business operations in Sudan that include power production activities, mineral extraction activities, oil-related activities, or the production of military equipment. Explicit exclusions are provided for companies whose business in Sudan only involves investments in the regional government of Southern Sudan; legal transactions under a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) or other U.S. authorization; delivery of goods and services for marginalized populations or internationally recognized humanitarian organizations, and other similar investments." (National Council on Teacher Retirement)

Two Texas Public Pensions Could Soon Divest in Companies Doing Business in Sudan
Excerpt: "A 2006 state law is intended to put economic pressure on the government in Sudan, where militias allied with the government are accused of a campaign of atrocities against ethnic African civilians in the Darfur region. As required by the law, the comptroller Wednesday released a list of 27 companies that meet the law's definition of doing business in Sudan." (The Austin American-Statesman)

Opinion: The Socially Responsible Investing Fiduciary Cop-Out
Excerpt: "For SRI to be incompatible with the duty of loyalty, the interests of society and investors would have to be inherently at odds. This is preposterous. The capitalist system is dependent upon a stable and sustainable society. This is not to say that all socially responsible investment strategies align with portfolio beneficiaries' interests, but there is clearly no reason to believe that none will." (Boomer Market Advisor)

Bush Signs Sudan Divestment Bill into Law
Excerpt: "President Bush signed legislation on Monday that makes it easier for mutual funds and private pension funds to sell their investments in companies doing business with Sudan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

New Report on Social Investing Suggests Positive Results
Excerpt: "The Asset Management Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Mercer LLC have recently issued a joint report suggesting that 'responsible investing' in companies based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors does not necessarily compromise investment performance, and may actually enhance it in some cases." (National Council on Teacher Retirement)

U.S. Senate Passes Sudan Divestment Bill
Excerpt: "Reuters reports the legislation permits U.S. state and local governments, as well as mutual funds and private pension funds, to divest their investments in companies involved in four Sudanese business sectors. The bill permits divestment from companies involved in Sudan's oil industry, mineral extraction, power production, and the production of military equipment.' (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

CalPERS, CalSTRS Are Teaming with 150 Business Leaders on Climate Change Issues
Excerpt: "California pension fund leaders are going international with their climate change campaign, joining 150 corporate executives from around the globe in demanding mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions. The unprecedented call comes as international talks begin today in Indonesia to craft a new global climate change pact." (The Sacramento Bee)

Lawmakers Push Pension Clout for `Terror Free' Market
Excerpt: "Legislators from four different states have written the governors of the 50 U.S. states and 277 leaders of all the state legislatures suggesting divestment from companies doing business in Syria, Iran, North Korea and Sudan." (Bloomberg News)

Iran Divestiture Proposal Announced by NY State Comptroller
Excerpt: "New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli last week announced a plan to divest state retirement funds from companies doing business in Iran.' (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Texas Teacher Retirement System to Study Governor's Request to Sell Shares of Companies with Links to Iran
Excerpt: "Next year, the state's two largest public pension funds could start selling shares they hold in companies doing business in Sudan and Iran. Trustees of the $113 billion Teacher Retirement System said Friday that they would study Gov. Rick Perry's request to sell shares of companies with links to Iran." (The Austin American-Statesman)

Does 'Value Driven' Investing Mean Lower Returns? A Look at Socially Responsible Investing
Excerpt: "For most investors who have an interest in SRI, they are often willing to slightly underperform a benchmark for a period of time, if it allows them to keep their personal values aligned with the values of companies held by their portfolio." (Richmond.com)

Zelinsky on the Reality of ERISA Social Investing
Excerpt: "Ed Zelinsky (Cardozo) has a thoughtful and provocative piece on the issue of social investing in the pension context. Here's a snippet from the National Law Journal . . . ." (Workplace Prof Blog)

Study Touts CalPERS' Benefit to Economy
Excerpt: "Investments by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, spurred $15.1 billion in economic activity in California in 2006, creating more than 124,000 jobs, a new study found. The study, to be released today at a California pension fund conference in Los Angeles, found that the $247-billion fund created more economic activity last year than industries including machinery manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, and amusements, gambling and recreation." (Los Angeles Times)

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