Bill > A889

Introduced Session

This bill adjusts the membership of the State Investment Council. The State Investment Council presently has sixteen members, eight of whom are appointed directly by the Governor. This bill would decrease the members appointed by the Governor to five members, and it would increase the number of New Jersey State AFL-CIO members to five members. This adjustment to the membership of the council would reflect more parity in representation between employer membership and labor membership, comparable to the membership of the State Health Benefits Plan Design Committee. Additionally, under this bill, the Governor would no longer be responsible for appointing the labor membership of the council. This change is also comparable to the manner of appointment for the State Health Benefits Plan Design Committee. Further, the bill provides for co-chairs of the council, rather than one chair under the current law. Additionally, the bill allows the Governor to remove members based on the member's egregious conduct, rather than "for cause" as is the standard in current law. The bill also adds the term "alternative investment managers" to be used in connection with the term "external managers" that is incorporated in current law, for the reports, contracts, and reviews of the State Investment Council because the Division of Investment recognizes alternative investment funds in addition to conventional investments. Finally, the bill provides for the Division of Investment, in conjunction with the State Investment Council, to develop a plan to assess and identify the environmental, social, and governance, or "ESG," risk and exposure characteristics of managed investment portfolios. This provision is in response to the United States Department of Labor's 2015 guidance on economically targeted investments in retirement plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Thomas Giblin (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee (on 01/14/2020)

Official Document