Washington’s Investment Board takes on more active role in the process of influencing good corporate governance (December 16, 2004) Olympia – The Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) adopted a new proxy voting policy and guidelines today laying the groundwork to directly vote proxies for the WSIB's $17.8 billion domestic equity portfolio beginning in 2005. "This decision is a great step in the right direction and demonstrates the Board's commitment to directly influence good corporate governance and faithfully carry out its fiduciary duty to prudently manage pension and other public fund assets," said State Treasurer Mike Murphy, who serves on the Board and the WSIB's Audit Committee. "The Board believes that good corporate governance is an important tool for monitoring performance and enhancing value. Accountability is critical." Treasurer Murphy was recently asked to serve on the National Association of State Treasurers' Corporate Governance Committee. The WSIB's domestic equity portfolios are managed by Barclays Global Investors (BGI). The portfolios include 4200 stocks and are passively invested to match the returns of four index funds including the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the Russell 3000, the S&P 500, and the Russell 2000. Historically, the WSIB domestic equity proxies were indirectly voted through BGI based on the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) corporate governance policies. The WSIB recently contracted with Glass Lewis & Co., LLC (GL) and Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) to assist in voting U.S. equity proxies in 2005. GL's research team is led by a former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and will provide proxy voting recommendations, consulting on proxy voting issues, and corporate governance education to the WSIB. The IRRC will provide operational services needed by the WSIB to vote the domestic equity proxies.

Proxy Voting Policy