NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas State Treasurer Steven Johnson is pleased that the Kansas Public Investments and Contracts Protection Act is now law.
"Our goal in investing and meeting the state's needs is to make sure that we are neutral to the concerns," Johnson said. "We don't want to swing hard one way or the other. We are responsible, as a fiduciary, to get the best return for the risk taken."
This bill specifically allows the State Treasurer to continue to seek out what will make the most money, regardless of whether or not it follows environmental, social or governance criteria.
"It prescribes that in our contracts and in our proxy votes in the pension portfolio or any other investments, that those are not directed using the ESG criteria. Specifically, that whether it is our investment managers or our contractors, we don't give preferential treatment or discriminate, whether a company meets or fails to meet those criteria."
Johnson notes that the state's pension fund is still in decent shape, even with the recent downturns in the stock market.
"The current funded ratio is a little hard to follow," Johnson said. "It's 72%. It would be over 80%, had the board not changed the investment return assumption last year. That lowering of the return assumption didn't change the number of dollars that were in the fund, but it changed how the liability was projected."
The KPERS funded ratio was at 56% in 2012.
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