COLUMBUS � The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) supports today's signing of Ohio Senate Bill 133, which triggers new regulations and oversight for the state's public pension systems.

"The legislation signed today is vital, and the increased accountability included will strengthen Ohio's retirement systems," said OP&F Executive Director William Estabrook. "At OP&F, we have already taken action as an organization to implement many of these changes. We have supported pension reform throughout the process and will now work hard to put all of the mandates in place."

While the pension reforms affect each of the five systems, in the past year OP&F has acted to address many of these changes internally, including: amending the Board of Trustee travel and reimbursement policy; requiring annual disclosure statements from employees with investment-making authority; requiring regular ethics training by the Board of Trustees and staff. Also, a mandatory fiduciary audit is scheduled to begin during the third quarter of 2004.

In addition to these measures, OP&F has amended the governance policies for its Board of Trustees and has had an internal auditor as a member of its senior management team since 1999.

OP&F, along with Ohio's other public pension systems, will be required to annually submit goals aimed to increase business with Ohio-based equity traders and investment managers. Once Governor Bob Taft signs the legislation, it will become law in 90 days.

Created in 1965 as a result of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, OP&F is a multi-employer pension fund serving more than 52,000 members. OP&F is one of five statewide retirement systems and provides pension, disability, survivor, and health care benefits to eligible full-time police officers and firefighters in the state of Ohio.

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Contact: Dave Graham (614) 628-8396, dgraham@op-f.org