NY Common Retirement Fund Announces New Measures to Protect State Pension Fund From Climate Risk and Invest in Climate Solutions

Link: https://www.osc.ny.gov/press/releases/2024/02/ny-common-retirement-fund-announces-new-measures-protect-state-pension-fund-climate-risk-and-invest

Excerpt:

The New York State Common Retirement Fund (Fund) will restrict its investments in eight integrated oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., after a review of the companies’ readiness to transition to a low-carbon economy, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, trustee of the Fund, announced today.

The evaluation of the Fund’s integrated oil and gas holdings is part of DiNapoli’s broader review of the transition readiness of energy sector investments that face significant climate risk. With today’s announcement, the Fund will be divesting its corporate bonds and actively managed public equity holdings in eight integrated oil and gas companies that it has determined are not transition-ready. In addition to Exxon, the companies to be divested and restricted in the coming months are Guanghui Energy Company Ltd., Echo Energy PLC, IOG PLC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Delek Group Ltd., Dana Gas Co and Unit Corp. The value of these holdings is approximately $26.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.

DiNapoli also announced the Fund has met its initial goal of committing $20 billion to the Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions program, and has set a new goal of investing $40 billion in that program by 2035. With the program, the Fund invests in sustainable investments including clean energy generation, energy storage, resource efficiency, and green infrastructure across all asset classes. As part of the expansion of this program, DiNapoli also announced the Fund would increase its climate index investments by 50% to over $10 billion over the next two years, with the longer-term goal of doubling it by 2035.

Publication Date: 15 Feb 2024

Publication Site: Office of the Comptroller of NY State

DiNapoli: Pennsylvania Man Who Impersonated Deceased Father to Steal $194K in NYS Pension and Social Security Payments Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

Link: https://www.osc.ny.gov/press/releases/2024/02/dinapoli-pennsylvania-man-who-impersonated-deceased-father-steal-194k-nys-pension-and-social-security

Excerpt:

A Pennsylvania man who stole $194,000 of retirement benefits paid to his deceased father was sentenced today to five years in prison and ordered to pay full restitution, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jacqueline C. Romero, the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration Gail S. Ennis, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced.

From October 2017 through October 2022, Timothy Gritman, 57, stole $110,897 in pension benefits from the New York State and Local Retirement System and $83,188 in Social Security benefits. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and Social Security fraud charges in February.

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New York state pensioner Ralph Gritman retired from the Nassau County Clerk’s Office in 1992 and moved to Wyoming from Pennsylvania with his son, Timothy Gritman, in August 2017. In September 2017, Medicare records showed he went to a hospital emergency room in Wyoming. This was the last existing record of the father.

The father and son shared a joint bank account where Ralph’s retirement benefits were electronically deposited. Both Ralph Gritman’s pension and Social Security benefits were to cease upon his death, but Timothy Gritman concealed his father’s death in order to continue to receive his retirement benefits. In his attempts to impersonate his deceased father, he used makeup to whiten his hair and eyebrows.

Publication Date: 14 Feb 2024

Publication Site: Office of the NY State Comptroller

DiNapoli: Woman Pleads Guilty to Theft and Must Pay Back $459K in NYS Pension and Social Security Payments

Link:https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2023/07/dinapoli-woman-pleads-guilty-theft-and-must-pay-back-459k-nys-pension-and-social-security-payments?utm_content=20230715&utm_medium=email&utm_source=weekly+news

Excerpt:

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan and Inspector General for the Social Security Administration Gail S. Ennis today announced that Sandra Smith, a resident of Georgia, has pleaded guilty to the federal crime of theft of government funds and must pay back $459,050 in New York state pension and Social Security payments that were issued to her deceased mother-in-law.

“Exploiting the death of a family member for personal profit is a heinous crime,” DiNapoli said. “The defendant took advantage of our state pension fund and the Social Security Administration but as a result of our joint investigation her crimes were discovered. She now faces the consequences of her actions. My thanks to U.S. Attorney Buchanan and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General for their partnership in ensuring justice was served and restitution was made in this case.”

Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of government funds. Under her plea agreement, she will pay $264,699 in restitution to the state pension system and $194,351 to the SSA.

The defendant’s late-mother-in-law, Minnie Smith, was an employee of the New York State Insurance Fund for 20 years until retiring in 2005. To be closer to family, she moved from Brooklyn to Georgia afterward and passed away there on Sept. 14, 2006.

As her mother-in-law’s caretaker, Sandra Smith had access to her bank account, which she kept open after her mother-in-law’s death to enable the theft of continued payments from the New York state pension system and Social Security. The thefts were discovered and investigated by the Comptroller’s Division of Investigations and the SSA-OIG.

Smith, 49, pleaded before Judge Eleanor Ross of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Author(s): press release

Publication Date: 11 July 2023

Publication Site: Office of the NY State Comptroller

Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise: Asset Management and Financial Institution Strategy Report

Link: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/reports/special-topics/pdf/mwbe-fiscal-2022-23.pdf?utm_content=20230610&utm_medium=email&utm_source=weekly+news

Graphic:

Excerpt:

In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Fund recorded growth in its investments with MWBE managers. Despite increased market volatility from the banking disruptions to small financial institutions and the regional banking system and the rise in interest rates, the Fund has continued its steady deployment of capital to MWBE investment managers. As detailed in the tables below, total investments and commitments of Fund capital to MWBE partners for 2022-23 was $31.5 billion.

….

While Fund management is very pleased with these results, our team is committed to retaining our long-term focus on steady, incremental growth, partnering with successful MWBE managers. The 2022-23 results illustrate another important measure of the success of the Fund’s MWBE Strategy. Of the approximate $141 billion of the Fund’s assets that are actively and externally managed, 22.3 percent is managed by MWBEs.

Author(s): Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli

Publication Date: May 2023

Publication Site: Office of the New York State Comptroller

Editorial Board: NY Thruway’s proposed toll increase is undercut by a disturbing audit

Link: https://buffalonews.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-board-ny-thruways-proposed-toll-increase-is-undercut-by-a-disturbing-audit/article_56de1d8a-0173-11ee-885e-1bcdef5c79d9.html?utm_content=20230610&utm_medium=email&utm_source=weekly+news

Excerpt:

According to an audit released May 26 by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office, the Thruway Authority, which completed a transition to a cashless tolling system in 2020, has “struggled to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid fees.” The total of uncollected fees is hefty by any standard. As of March, it was $276.3 million in unpaid funds in collection status, with out-of-state drivers accounting for $119 million, or 43% of this amount.

The timing isn’t great for this news. In December, the Thruway Authority proposed that 2024 rates increase by 5% for E-ZPass holders statewide, with a second increase in 2027 of another 5%.

DiNapoli’s audit recommends ways the Thruway Authority could better identify, bill and collect tolls and related fees. The authority agreed with three of the audit’s 11 recommendations, and did not comment on whether it agreed or disagreed with eight others.

….

According to the audit, the clue as to where the leakage might be found is in the collection process. The audit “found a lapse in the authority’s recouping of unpaid tolls” after the expiration of a contract with the authority’s collections vendor in September 2020. The authority signed a contract with a new vendor in January 2021 but did not send the new vendor any of the remaining unpaid accounts until July 2021, nine months after the prior contract’s expiration.

….

More than 90% of Thruway revenue comes from tolls and related fees, with the vast majority coming from EZ-Pass users and the rest from toll-by-mail payments. As the audit noted, the Thruway Authority collected $804 million in tolls and related revenues in 2021.

Author(s): Editorial Board

Publication Date: 5 Jun 2023

Publication Site: The Buffalo News

New York Common Commits $1.3 Billion to Sustainable Program

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/new-york-common-commits-1-3-billion-to-sustainable-program/

Excerpt:

The $242.3 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has committed $1.3 billion to two funds as part of its Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions program. It also earmarked more than $600 million to alternative investments in February.

The pension program committed $1 billion to funds tracking the MSCI World ex USA Climate Change Index, which overweights companies expected to benefit from the transition to a low-carbon economy and underweights companies facing greater climate change risks. A company’s carbon intensity, climate risk management, potential stranded assets, physical risk exposure and development of climate solution products and services are the key factors assessing these rankings.

….

Finally, within the pension fund’s emerging manager program, which invests in newer, smaller and diverse firms, $15 million was allocated to the Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund, which will focus on creating and acquiring industrial outdoor storage in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

Author(s): Michael Katz

Publication Date: 10 April 2023

Publication Site: ai-CIO

COVID-19: Audit Cites ‘Distortion, Suppression Of Facts’ In Nursing Home Reporting Under Cuomo

Link: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/northsalem/news/covid-19-audit-cites-distortion-suppression-of-facts-in-nursing-home-reporting-under-cuomo/828102/

Excerpt:

The state Health Department intentionally “misled the public” regarding the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes under former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, according to a scathing audit from the Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept through New York, the Department of Health was not prepared to respond to the infectious disease outbreaks in nursing homes, according to the audit, which helped lead to the inaccurate virus-related death count in facilities.

Auditors found that health officials undercounted the death toll in nursing homes by at least 4,100 residents and at times more than 50 percent, despite claims from the former governor, who said the state was doing well in protecting seniors.

Author(s): Zak Failla

Publication Date: 17 March 2022

Publication Site: New York Daily Voice

DiNapoli: NYSLRS Announces Employers’ Retirement System Contribution Rates for 2023-2024

Link: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2022/09/dinapoli-nyslrs-announces-employers-retirement-system-contribution-rates-2023-2024&utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nyslrs&utm_term=contribution+rates&utm_content=20220903

Report: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/retirement/resources/pdf/actuarial-assumptions-2022.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced employer contribution rates for the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Employers’ average contribution rates for the State Fiscal Year 2023-24 will increase from 11.6% to 13.1% of payroll for the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and from 27.0% to 27.8% of payroll for the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS).

NYSLRS is made up of these two systems, which pay retirement and disability benefits to public employees and death benefits to their survivors.

“The state pension fund’s performance in the fiscal year that ended March 31 was strong, but recent domestic and global economic volatility demands caution,” DiNapoli said. “As we move forward with our prudent investment strategy, we remain focused on long-term stable returns for New York’s public employers and workforce. Uncertainty may be a constant in financial markets, but the rates announced today will help ensure that New York’s pension fund will continue to be one of the nation’s strongest and best funded, ready to provide retirement security for generations to come.”

Author(s): press release of Office of State Comptroller of New York

Publication Date: 1 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Office of the State Comptroller

NY Common to Review Net-Zero Readiness of Oil and Gas Firms

Link: https://www.ai-cio.com/news/ny-common-to-review-net-zero-readiness-of-oil-and-gas-firms/?oly_enc_id=2359H8978023B3G

Excerpt:

The New York State Common Retirement Fund is evaluating 28 publicly traded oil and gas companies to determine if they are ready to transition to a low-carbon economy, according to a release from the state comptroller’s office.

The $272.1 billion pension fund is asking each company, which includes energy giants BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell, to provide information on how prepared it is to transition to a net-zero economy.

….

The assessment of the pension fund’s integrated oil and gas holdings is part of its broader review of energy sector investments that it believes face significant climate risk. When DiNapoli announced in late 2020 that the pension fund would transition its portfolio to net-zero by 2040, he said the process would include completing a review of energy sector investments within four years to assess transition readiness, as well as a divestment of companies that don’t meet its climate-related investment risk standards.

Less than two years into that review process, which has so far included an evaluation of shale oil and gas, oil sands and coal companies, the pension fund has decided to divest from 55 firms that it determined were not prepared to transition to a net-zero economy.

Author(s): Michael Katz

Publication Date: 15 Aug 2022

Publication Site: ai-CIO

NYS Pension Fund Commits $2 Billion to Climate Transition Index

Link:https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2021/12/nys-pension-fund-commits-2-billion-climate-transition-index?utm_source=weekly%20news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=climate%20transition%20index&utm_content=20211212&utm_campaign=pension%20fund&section=feature

Excerpt:

The New York State Common Retirement Fund (Fund) will invest $2 billion in an index focused on reducing the risks of climate change and capitalizing on the opportunities arising from the transition to a low-carbon economy, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, trustee of the fund, announced today. This is part of the Comptroller’s Climate Action Plan announced in 2019 and his goal for the Fund of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

The Fund will allocate $2 billion within its internally managed public equity portfolio to FTSE Russell’s Russell 1000 TPI Climate Transition Index (CTI) in connection with the Fund’s Sustainable Investment & Climate Solutions (SICS) program.

Author(s): Thomas DiNapoli

Publication Date: 9 Dec 2021

Publication Site: Office of the NY State Comptroller

State comptroller launches COVID-19 relief fund tracker

Link:https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/DiNapoli-launches-tracker-of-COVID-19-relief-funds-16533107.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-CP-Latest-News

Excerpt:

The state has received $21 billion in federal pandemic relief money and has spent $6.1 billion since the end of September, according to a new online tracker released by the state comptroller’s office.

Despite less than a third of the money being spent to date, much of the federal cash has a general spending plan ascribed to it. The state has received just over half of its expected federal aid, which is to total $39.8 billion, according to the tracker. 

“Thankfully New York is getting billions of dollars of federal funding that really has been a lifeline,” state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli told the Times Union. “When you’re seeing an infusion of funding at that magnitude, it is important to follow the money and make sure it is spent as intended.”

Author(s): Joshua Solomon

Publication Date: 14 Oct 2021

Publication Site: Times Union

DiNapoli: Local Sales Taxes Jump 49.2 Percent in Second Quarter

Link: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2021/07/dinapoli-local-sales-taxes-jump-49-point-2-percent-second-quarter

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Sales tax revenue for local governments in New York state rose by 49.2% in the second quarter (April to June 2021) compared to the same period last year, a dramatic increase from last year’s weak collections during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Sales tax collections during this period grew by just over $1.6 billion and even surpassed collections reported during the second quarter of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.

…..

The size of the increase largely reflects extremely weak collections in the April to June period of 2020. However, even compared to pre-pandemic collections for the same period in 2019, statewide collections in 2021 were up 8.7% or $396 million. Every region outside of New York City experienced two-year growth over 18%. The Mid-Hudson and North Country regions both reported increases of more than 29%.

Author(s): Thomas DiNapoli

Publication Date: 23 July 2021

Publication Site: NY State Comptroller