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MACRS and others push reforms on retirement-board authority, records and fiduciary duties
Summary
Witnesses from MACRS and the Massachusetts Association of Retirement Systems supported bills to clarify retirement boards’ legislative status, standardize documentary rules, and expand fiduciary definitions to include outside managers and contractors.
Michael Riley, legislative agent for the Massachusetts Association of Contributory Retirement Systems (MACRS), testified in favor of multiple bills aimed at clarifying retirement boards’ authority and fiduciary responsibilities.
Riley described House Bill 2756 as an effort to “align the autonomy and the authority that’s directly, in the independent control of retirement boards, as, as the legislative, body.” He said House Bill 2766 would make documentary material and data rules uniform across all local retirement systems, and that another bill would “define a person for retirement purposes” so that outside money managers or law firms hired by retirement systems would become fiduciaries.
Riley framed the package as harmonizing rules so “everybody [is] playing by the same rules.” He also voiced support for companion bills addressing Option D beneficiaries that other witnesses presented earlier in the hearing.
The committee did not act on the bills during the session; MACRS asked for favorable reports so the measures could advance through the legislative process.
