(February 4, 2002) – “At a time when investors, the government and industry are looking for securities regulators to do more, we are troubled that there is no money in the proposed budget to raise the pay of staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission to match that of their counterparts at the federal banking agencies,” said Marc Beauchamp, executive director of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)¹. “As the attention surrounding Enron`s collapse has shown, we are a nation of investors. In order to protect those investors, state securities regulators understand the SEC must recruit and retain highly skilled staff. Pay parity is important to that end.”