CalSTRS Urges Congress to Adopt Senate's Investor Protection Act.

Business Editors

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2002

The California State Teachers' Retirement System today called on Congress to adopt the tough protections in the Public Company Accounting Reform And Investor Protection Act of 2002, recently passed by the Senate. CalSTRS sent a letter urging passage of the act to each member of the House-Senate Conference Committee working out differences between the act and actions taken earlier by the House of Representatives.

The 2002 Investor Protection Act, adopted by the Senate by a 97-0 vote, addresses many of the market reforms CalSTRS had identified earlier as necessary to restore investor confidence. Those provisions include limits on non-audit activities of auditing firms, strengthening of corporate officer accountability and policies to avoid conflicts of interest between a firm's analysts and investment bankers.

"We've suffered through a troubling year that borders on a national tragedy. Fortunately the will is in Congress for change; the question is how much," said Jack Ehnes, CalSTRS Chief Executive Officer. "CalSTRS has long called for strong action and we're glad to see that in the Senate bill. I hope other investors agree and join us in supporting the 2002 Investor Protection Act in its present form."

CalSTRS, with a $100 billion investment portfolio, administers retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California's public school educators in grades kindergarten through community college, serving approximately 687,000 members and benefit recipients.

For the text of the letter to the Members of the House-Senate Conference Committee go to http://www.calstrs.ca.gov/news/SL.pdf