General Treasurer Seth Magaziner today praised the House Finance Committee's unanimous passage of H 5923 which creates a legislative requirement to continue the "Transparent Treasury" investment policy implemented by Treasurer Magaziner in 2015.
"Rhode Islanders deserve to know where their funds are invested and how they are performing," said Treasurer Magaziner. "The leadership shown by Representative Carson, and members of the House Finance Committee, will help ensure that the transparency policies my office put into place will continue."
The bill, which was introduced by Representative Lauren H. Carson (District 75 – Newport), ensures that the transparency standards that were developed by Treasurer Magaziner in 2015 will continue to be maintained and upheld.
When Treasurer Magaziner put his "Transparent Treasury" initiative into place in 2015 it was regarded as the most comprehensive transparency policy of any public pension fund in the nation. At the time, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. said Rhode Island's transparency model "should be implemented by every public fund" in the nation. New York City, California and other large public pension funds have since followed Rhode Island's lead.
During his first months in office, Treasurer Magaziner launched a new investment information center at treasury.ri.gov, as well new data portal that offers unprecedented access to state treasury information. The data is available to the public in sortable, downloadable and machine readable formats. Rhode Island was also the first state in the nation to require that new investments be placed only with fund managers that publicly disclose performance, fees, expenses and liquidity.
"Transparency for the investments of our public pensions is good government," said Representative Carson. "I commend Treasurer Magaziner for initiating the pension portal for public access. It is my honor to sponsor and pass legislation that codifies this practices for years to come under future administrations," added Carson.
The legislation will now move to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
# # # Contact: Evan England, Director of Communications (401) 439-2199 / evan.england@treasury.ri.gov