Guv signs investment-firm disclosure bill

Posted 4/07/2009 03:42:00 PM

Gov. Bill Richardson signed today a bill that will require additional disclosure from investment firms seeking to do business with the state.

House Bill 876, sponsored by Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque, will require companies seeking contracts with the state that deal with alternative investments -- those other than stocks and bonds -- to disclose the employment of any third-party marketers they employ to help secure such contracts, including public relations firms and lobbyists.

The relevant agencies -- the State Investment Council, Educational Retirement Board and Public Employees Retirement Association -- will be required to pass on those disclosures in reports they make publicly several times a year, and also annually to the appropriate legislative oversight committee.

In light of the pay-to-play allegations dogging the Richardson administration -- which, in the federal grand jury investigation and the separate lawsuit brought by Frank Foy, have to do with state investments -- the bill seems especially relevant. The disclosure of any additional information about who is helping those firms would seem to make it easier for the public to understand the money involved.