RALEIGH - The current economic downturn has caused many of us to worry about our budgets, our savings and our investments. Fortunately, 820,000 North Carolinians can rest assured that their pensions are secure, even in times of economic trouble.

Our teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and state and local government employees are members of the second-best pension fund in the country, and they can count on their benefits to be there for them. North Carolina's state pension fund is the envy of many across the country, and it is grounded in the principle of "slow and steady wins the race." This is an investment strategy that has served our state pension fund well through bull and bear markets.

That is why changes being advocated by the State Employees Association of N.C. should be of great concern to the state, city, county, town and school system retirees we represent who are counting on North Carolina's tradition of a rock solid pension fund.

The bottom line is that House Bill 2758 would increase risk for the pension fund, for its members and for the state.

The bill represents a fundamental change in the investment strategy that has served the state and its workers well for decades. It would mean abandoning the strong tradition of state Treasurers Edwin Gill and Harlan Boyles, in which the pension fund has been carefully managed to safeguard workers' retirement.

Our current system gives the popularly elected state treasurer the sole authority to direct the investment of pension funds. The treasurer is assisted by a qualified staff in the office's Investment Division, as well as by a group of experts who serve on the Investment Advisory Committee.

Moving the authority to manage investments from the treasurer to a 22-member Board of Trustees would result in a system where the final decisions on the investment of our pension funds would rest with an appointed body that does not necessarily possess the expertise to carry out this responsibility. The statutory criteria for selection of members of the Board of Trustees do not require any expertise in finance or investments.

Changing that philosophy and adding risk would leave our workers and retirees extremely vulnerable to economic downturns.

For the first quarter of 2008, when the stock market and the economy were hit the hardest since the 2001-2002 recession, North Carolina's pension fund performed better than its peers. Returns for the first quarter were almost a full percentage point higher than the median return for public pension funds with more than $1 billion in assets, according to Wilshire, the most widely accepted benchmark for the performance of institutional assets. North Carolina's fund performed far better than board-run pension funds in California, Florida, Wisconsin, Oregon and others throughout the country. For the three months ending April 30, the pension fund's stocks posted gains, and the overall return of the fund has remained steady.

During this challenging economic environment, North Carolina can expect its pension fund to remain one of the best in the country. The careful management of the fund, the General Assembly's commitment to retirement, and continued modernization of investments will protect our members' investments.

When considering a change to a system that has served us so well, we have a responsibility to separate fact from fiction. North Carolina has been ranked as one of the strongest pension funds in the country for six years running, including being ranked as the second-best fund for three years in a row by Standard & Poor's. In 2000, state pension funds had, on average, all of the resources needed to fund future payments. By 2006, that average nationwide dropped to 81 percent, while North Carolina's remained at 106 percent. .

When all the facts are on the table, we all agree that North Carolina's pension fund has served our teachers, our firefighters, our law enforcement officers, our rescue personnel, our EMS personnel and our state well. There is no reason to expect that a board that is not accountable to the people of North Carolina would be better managers of the fund. Slow, steady, conservative performance is exactly what we ought to be doing.

(Edmund P. Regan is executive director of the N.C. Retired Governmental Employees' Association. Pam Deardorff is executive director of the N.C. Retired School Personnel.)