From Deseret News archives:
Retirement funds scrutinized
Bills seek divesture from firms tied to Iran, Sudan
Rep. Julie Fisher, R-Fruit Heights, and Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, both have bills that could force the Utah Retirement System to take money out of firms divest their investments if they have dealings with those two countries, which are abusing human rights in various ways, they say. Fisher's bill deals only with foreign firms, Litvack's with domestic and foreign firms.
Fisher said that the state system should not be investing in a country that supports terrorism, especially against American troops in the Middle East.
"It really bothers me that we are sending our sons and daughters over to Iraq to fight for our freedom when our own state retirement system may be investing in (Iran), the very economy that is trying to destroy us," she said.
The bill is supported by the Retirement and Independent Entities Interim Committee, although it will be heard again during the upcoming general session. During a November committee hearing, Fisher said that "whatever we can do (to fight) the war on terror, we should. And Iran is leading the terrorist movement."
"It targets the worst offending companies," Litvack said. "We're really going after those that are contributing to the genocide."
These bills reflect a growing trend in financial circles for "socially responsible investments," said Dan Andersen, staff counsel for the Utah Retirement System. But it's also a trend that could cost large public retirement systems considerable money, both through additional consulting costs and potential lost profits, while showing little benefit to the original causes, he said.
The bills, he said, should be rejected because they are "ineffective, costly, burdensome, inefficient, fraught with legal problems and (could well) violate the principles of federalism." Federal courts have already struck down some state SRI laws as being unconstitutional because they stepped into foreign policy, a right reserved for the federal government, Andersen added.
Recent comments
How about China? I doubt our legislators are willing to go that far....
China? | Jan. 12, 2008 at 12:22 p.m.
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