Jan 26, 2007 8:49 pm US/Mountain
Majority Of State Lawmakers Back Sudan Divestment
DENVER (AP) ―
A majority of state lawmakers have agreed to back a proposal requiring public pension plans to not own stock in companies doing business in Sudan.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said Friday that a bipartisan group of 76 members of the House and Senate have lined up to support the measure (House Bill 1184), about a week after he first announced plans to introduce it.
"Some people said divestiture is a little extreme and we said so is genocide," Romanoff said.
President Bush has labeled violence in Sudan a genocide. More than 200,000 people have been killed there and 2.5 million have been forced to flee their homes.
The measure requires public pension plans, including the Public Employment Retirement Association, to develop a list of companies doing business in Sudan and warn any of those companies they invest in that they will be subject to divestiture if they continue to do business there. If the companies don't change their policies, the pension plan would have to sell or redeem its shares of all publicly traded securities of the company.
State Treasurer Cary Kennedy said the state doesn't have any foreign investments but she would work with Romanoff to make sure the divestment process is handled efficiently.
"I think that divestment is something that should be used warily and carefully but that a presidential and a congressional declaration of genocide rises to that level," she said.
Other groups that would be covered by the bill are the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado and the Regional Transportation District pension.
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