This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.

                                                                                

79R10575 CLE-D

By:  Burnam                                                     H.C.R. No. 121



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, United States companies that conduct business in 
Sudan and other countries that support terrorism provide financial 
reinforcement to terrorist-sponsoring governments and vital 
resources to terrorists aided and abetted by these governments; and
	WHEREAS, The Center for Security Policy has determined that 
on average, the nation's top 100 pension systems invest in 101 
companies that have business activities in countries that support 
terrorism, and the companies are involved in projects valued at 
more than $73 billion in these countries; and
	WHEREAS, Federal law found at 22 U.S.C. Section 2656f(d) 
defines "terrorism" as "premeditated, politically motivated 
violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational 
groups or clandestine agents"; and
	WHEREAS, The genocide perpetrated in Darfur, Sudan, by 
government-backed militias qualifies as terrorism because it 
focuses on innocent civilians, results from a central planning 
operation, and uses violence in pursuit of a political goal; and
	WHEREAS, In 2004 the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that 
recognized and approved the findings of the U.S. secretary of state 
that genocide has occurred and may still be occurring in Darfur, 
Sudan, and that the government of Sudan bears responsibility for 
such acts; and
	WHEREAS, Despite awareness of these findings, companies such 
as Canada's Talisman Energy, Inc., which owns 25 percent of the 
primary oil developer in Sudan, continue to provide funds that are 
directly linked to the Sudanese government; several large U.S. 
pension funds have divested mutual funds containing Talisman Energy 
stock; and
	WHEREAS, The governments of terrorist-sponsoring countries 
typically are almost entirely dependent on the revenues, expertise, 
and advanced equipment and technology provided by global, publicly 
traded U.S. companies in which millions of Americans own stock; and
	WHEREAS, If Americans knew which companies are, in effect, 
rendering assistance to nations that harbor, arm, train, and 
otherwise support our enemies in the war on terror, they might make 
different choices about investing in and otherwise doing business 
with those companies; and
	WHEREAS, American consumers and investors so empowered can 
force companies to choose their standing in the U.S. financial 
community over their operations in terrorist-sponsoring countries, 
greatly increasing the pressure on these countries to cease their 
practice of aiding and abetting terrorists; and
	WHEREAS, While actions like these can assist the U.S. 
Department of the Treasury's efforts to sever the lines of 
financial support to international terrorists, what is needed to 
empower millions of American investors to aid our troops in the war 
on terror is information about U.S. companies doing business in 
terrorist-sponsoring countries provided by the newly created 
Office of Global Security Risk (OGSR) within the U.S. Securities 
and Exchange Commission (SEC); and
	WHEREAS, With the signing into law of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act on January 23, 2004, the U.S. Congress charged 
the OGSR with establishing a process by which the SEC identifies all 
publicly traded U.S. companies operating in terrorist-sponsoring 
states designated by the U.S. Department of State and with ensuring 
that the companies are disclosing such activities to investors; and
	WHEREAS, Although the OGSR is properly positioned to obtain 
and evaluate disclosure relating to company activities that may 
pose national security risks, the office has not been provided 
guidelines on how to make this information available to the public; 
now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 
direct the Office of Global Security Risk within the U.S. 
Securities and Exchange Commission to publish a list of U.S. 
companies that conduct business in countries that are involved in 
terrorist activities; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Office of Global Security Risk be directed 
to:            
	(1)  require companies to disclose the existence of any 
material activities in terrorist-sponsoring countries in a 
specific place or under a special header in filings provided to the 
Securities and Exchange Commission;
	(2)  provide a public searchable database of publicly traded 
U.S. companies with material business or operations in countries 
classified as supporting terrorism or subject to economic 
sanctions; and
	(3)  take steps to prevent U.S. companies from conducting 
business in Sudan, which the U.S. Department of State designates as 
one of the top supporters of international terrorism; and, be it 
further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.