A Great Lakes-based pension plan is considering the addition of an active mid-cap equity mandate.

More than 650 downstate and suburban public safety funds in Illinois with roughly $15 billion in total assets will be consolidated into two investment funds after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Public Act 101-0610 into law on Dec. 18.

Groups representing municipal employees and teachers are often paid to endorse investment products.

Alabama’s Employees Retirement System pension fund earned only a 2.78% rate of return during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, but Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner pointed out that the figure was skewed by a “really rotten first quarter.”