Industry News

On July 17, 2024, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA) released its primer, State Retirement System Governing Authority Arrangements. The primer discusses many arrangements used to provide oversight of retirement system operations and asset investments.

The overview is based on NASRA’s dataset of various elements of public retirement system governance. It contains data on over 150 public retirement boards. Specifically, it focuses on 120 boards, three sole trustees, and four systems with non-traditional governance arrangements, which provide oversight of state retirement systems and investment functions.

The key highlights include:

• In most state retirement systems, a single board oversees both administration and assets; however, in some states, these oversight areas are divided.
• In three states, the oversight of pension fund assets is the responsibility of a single statewide elected official, or a sole trustee.
• In four states, the oversight of retirement system administration is assigned to an individual or a department rather than a single board.

NASRA concludes, “Governance of state public retirement systems varies in structure and oversight. While most systems are overseen by boards with responsibility for both administration and assets, some systems operate under different arrangements, including separation of oversight of administration and assets; sole trustees; and a handful of systems whose governance framework differs from these more common structures.”

The report also includes an appendix that lists the boards and other entities as well as their scope of oversight.

The primer is available here.