Florida Divests Pensions From Sudan, Iran

By BRIAN SKOLOFF The Associated Press

Published: Jun 9, 2007

BOCA RATON - Florida became the first state in the nation Friday to have a law that its pension fund dollars are off-limits for investment in any companies doing business with Iran's energy sector or Sudan.

Several others states have divested pension funds with companies doing business in Sudan, and some states have general policies against such investments. None has yet put the action into law that divests funds from both countries.

"It's not just what's right for Florida. This is what's right for America, it's right for the world," Gov. Charlie Crist said after signing the bill. "It says that Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terror, we will not stand idly by anymore. And to Sudan and the genocide that is occurring there, we will not stand idly by and let that happen anymore, not Florida."

About $1 billion of Florida's $150 billion state pension fund, the third-largest in the country, is invested with companies that do business with Sudan and Iran's energy sector, said state Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, the bill's sponsor.

Under the new law, companies will first be given an opportunity to stop doing business with the two countries before state funds are pulled. Deutch said the state should be fully divested within a year.

"Tens of billions of dollars nationwide are invested in companies that are making it easier for the Iranian government to develop nuclear weapons and to make it easier for Iran to produce weapons that are being used against our troops," Deutch said.

Many states are considering pulling their investments from companies that conduct business with Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, all of which are on the State Department's list of terror-sponsoring nations.

Sudan has attracted worldwide attention recently with movie stars and politicians pushing for aid and assistance in the African nation, where the government and its militia allies are accused of pursuing a genocide campaign in the Darfur region.

Last year, Missouri adopted a policy to blacklist the four nations from receiving any investments from its pension funds. California, the state with the largest U.S. pension fund, has already banned its pension dollars from being invested in companies doing business with Sudan. A bill in the Legislature there now would also ban state funds from being invested in Iran's energy- or defense-related sectors.

Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and Oregon have also begun to divest public pension funds from Sudan.

Florida's move has also spurred other states to explore similar legislative actions, said Christopher Holton, vice president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington.

"The Florida legislation is absolutely precedent-setting," Holton said. "It's a basic moral issue. Do we really want any of our investment dollars going to our enemies? ... Doing business with Iran is like doing business with Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan in 1942."