NYSUT officials are applauding new procedures designed to protect the statewide pension system covering 90,000 NYSUT School-Related Professionals.

The new procedures are designed to provide greater oversight of the state's $154.5 billion Common Retirement Fund, which includes the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System.

"Clear, high standards for how employee pension investments are made can only strengthen safeguards for workers' dollars and cents," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, who spoke at a news conference introducing the program in Albany.

Gov. Spitzer, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and the superintendent of the State Insurance Department, Eric Dinallo, announced measures last month to increase reporting and transparency, create independent committees to oversee key areas, and strengthen inspection and auditing by the insurance department.

Since taking office last year, DiNapoli has instituted several measures to protect the integrity of the fund, including use of an inspector-general to investigate charges of corruption and the posting of new transactions on the Web. Those steps will be codified under proposed regulations that also direct the comptroller to:

• Establish conflict-of-interest and reporting standards for the comptroller, fund employees, committee members, and all outside consultants and investment managers;

• Establish an independent audit committee to review internal and external audits;

• Publicize the fund's investment policy;

• Post all standards, policies and disclosures on his office's public Web site.

"These common-sense practices should provide additional assurance that members' pension funds are being handled with integrity and transparency," said NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue. Her office oversees issues affecting SRPs and all NYSUT retirees.

DiNapoli also named NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin to a Pension Fund Task Force to recommend how to further strengthen controls and oversight of the fund.

At the December news conference, DiNapoli noted that while the state pension fund continues to be among the strongest in the country, "It's not enough to talk about performance. We need to set the bar for transparency and integrity, and we need to set that bar very high."

The State and Local Employees' Retirement System provides benefits to more than 1 million employees and retirees, most of them state and local government workers.

The proposed regulations will undergo a public hearing and review process. They apply only to members covered by ERS. They do not cover the state Teachers' Retirement System or the New York City TRS.