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Senate Bill 247 |
Senate Author: Ellis et al. |
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Effective: 1-1-08 |
House Sponsor: Van Arsdale et al. |
Senate Bill 247 amends the Government Code to prohibit the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) from investing pension funds in the publicly traded securities of a company that engages in certain business activities in Sudan. The bill requires the state comptroller to compile, maintain, and update a list of "scrutinized companies" that engage in such activities and requires ERS and TRS to identify any listed company in which the entity owns holdings, notify the company of its listed company status, and warn the company that it may become subject to divestment by the entity. After a specified deadline, if the company continues to conduct operations in Sudan, the system must divest its direct holdings. The bill requires ERS and TRS to file annually a publicly available report summarizing its compliance with these provisions and provides for the expiration of these provisions if the U.S. government declares that the Darfur genocide has been halted for at least 12 months, that the mandatory divestment is interfering with the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, or revokes its sanctions against the government of Sudan.