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79R11931 CLE-D


By:  Burnam, Van Arsdale, Edwards, Veasey,                      H.C.R. No. 143
 
    McClendon, et al.                                                        



HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The United States cannot hope to stop acts of 
genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan without halting the flow of 
money to the government of Sudan from public pension funds that 
invest in United States companies doing business in that country; 
and
	WHEREAS, Seizing power through a military coup in 1989, the 
government of Sudan repeatedly has attacked and dislocated civilian 
populations in Darfur, Sudan, in a coordinated policy of ethnic 
genocide that has cost the lives of more than two million people and 
displaced more than four million others; and
	WHEREAS, The Center for Security Policy has determined that, 
on average, the nation's leading public pension funds are invested 
in 26 companies doing business in Sudan; the Employees Retirement 
System of Texas investments reflect this average, while the Teacher 
Retirement System of Texas has 35 such holdings, according to the 
center; and
	WHEREAS, The center also reports that the pension systems of 
the Houston police department, the Dallas police and fire 
departments, and the San Antonio police and fire departments are 
invested in companies with ties to Sudan; and
	WHEREAS, While it is unconscionable that any public pension 
plan would, in effect, be rendering assistance to a nation that is 
one of the top supporters of international terrorism, it is a 
particular affront to police officers and firefighters that their 
pension funds are willing to hold the stock of companies with ties 
to Sudan; and
	WHEREAS, Managers of Texas public pension funds have the 
power to ensure that public pension funds are invested to support, 
rather than undermine, our efforts to defeat terrorists, including 
the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur, 
Sudan; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby encourage managers of Texas public pension funds to divest 
their portfolios of any stock in publicly-traded companies doing 
business in Sudan; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official 
copy of this resolution to the executive director of the State 
Pension Review Board for inclusion in mailings to the more than 200 
active public pension systems in Texas.