Iran Divestment Update - Schwarzenegger Terminates Iran From California State Pensions
Sorry about the headline - we wanted to make sure we grabbed it before anyone else got it.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement yesterday promising to sign AB 221, the legislation to divest California's pensions from Iran. We got the press release via Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles, who helped push this bill on the grassroots and legislative levels. Note also the letters next to the Governor's name and next to the name of Joel Anderson, the legislation's author. The R's provide only a hint of the enormous effort that the Republican Jewish Coalition expended to help get this passed and signed.
Full release after the jump. Hey, you think Columbia will be divesting any time soon?
California has a long history of leadership and doing what's right with our investment portfolio. Last year, I was proud to sign legislation to divest from the Sudan to take a powerful stand against genocide. I look forward to signing legislation to divest from Iran to take an equally powerful stand against terrorism.AB 221 by Assembly member Joel Anderson (R- La Mesa) creates the California Public Divest from Iran Act which prohibits CalPERS and CalSTRS from investing public employee retirement funds in a company with business operations in Iran. CalPERS, the state's employee retirement fund, is the largest pension fund in the nation and CalSTRS, the state's public education retirement fund, is the second largest pension fund in the nation.
In September 2006 Gov. Schwarzenegger signed two bills, AB 2179 and AB 2941, prohibiting the state's pension funds from investing in companies with active business in Sudan and indemnified the University of California from liability that might result from its divestments from Sudan.
In the 1980s, the state approved similar measures to allow state entities to divest in South Africa in order to protest its apartheid policies.
References:
* Children Of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles
* Republican Jewish Coalition
Previously:
* Josh Marshall, Liberal Sophisticate: Conservatives Should "Grow Up" About Ahmadinejad's Desecration Of Ground Zero
* Reuters Coverage Of Iran's Holocaust Conference: Sigh
* We Get Mail - Pro-Holocaust YouTube Cretin Edition
Cross-posted to:
* Israpundit
