Jan. 27, 2020
Jay Clayton, Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549-0609 File Number S7-22-19 Chairman Clayton: The difficulties facing many of the national public pension funds are not the fault of the people paying into them and playing by the book. The economic downturn in 2008 set off a chain of events that has cut too many pensions off at the knees. It is time for the SEC as an overseeing agency to step up to the plate for workers and help create an environment in which recovering pension funds are protected from mismanagement and destabilizing forces. The way many of the proxy firms are handling our pension funds puts us at risk to not maximize market returns in the short and long-terms. I will tread carefully here when I say: Proxy firms should not make recommendations that prioritize environmental and social issues because these kinds of things are shown to produce investment returns that are much lower than investment decisions made with an eye to maximum returns. There are other ways to make environment and social issues the focus, while not further destabilizing large public pension portfolios. We at the Building and Construction Trades Councils believe in being environmentally responsible. Many of us enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, and the outdoors. It should go without saying that we absolutely want our children, and children’s children, to have a livable planet for generations to come. With that said, we also want our children not to be burdened with our care in during our retirement, and part of our responsibility to them is to prepare for our own golden years with our pension investments now. I am proud to support many projects in SW Washington that have set up the Building Trades for long-term job growth. It is this growth and our continued investments in our pension plan that should set up the women and men in the trades for a stable and secure retirement. The SEC should take the steps necessary to prevent the proxies involved in our pension administration from curbing this growth and stability with their agenda voting. Thank you, Mike Bridges President LKBCTC IBEW 48 [redacted]