AB 1439: Public retirement systems: development projects: labor standards.

The California Constitution grants the retirement board of a public employee retirement system plenary authority and fiduciary responsibility for investment of moneys and administration of the retirement fund and system. These provisions qualify this grant of powers by reserving to the Legislature the authority to prohibit investments if it is in the public interest and the prohibition satisfies standards of fiduciary care and loyalty required of a retirement board. Existing law prohibits the boards of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) and the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) from making certain new investments or renewing existing investments of public employee retirement funds, including in a thermal coal company, as defined. Existing law provides that a board is not required to take any action regarding those investments unless the board determines in good faith that the action is consistent with the board's fiduciary responsibilities established in the California Constitution. This bill would request the University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center to conduct an independent study to analyze the extent of labor standards protections in California real estate and infrastructure development projects funded through the real asset portfolios of PERS and STRS. The bill would request that the study and a report of its findings be completed and provided to the Legislature and the Department of Finance by January 1, 2028, as specified.