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An amendment to the state’s Sudan-divestiture
law was approved by the Illinois House this week. Senate Bill 1169, sponsored by Sen. Jacqueline Y.
Collins, D-Chicago, makes technical changes to the Illinois’
definition of prohibited transactions, directing the state to
“disassociate from genocide and terrorism in Sudan.”
The bill is designed to fix a Sudan-divestment law
that was struck down earlier this year by a federal judge. Collins was the prime sponsor of last year’s
law, which directed state government to sell off investments in so-called
forbidden entities, including several major U.S. corporations operating in
Sudan. But U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly ruled in
February that the law was overly broad [R.L. Nave, “State’s
wrong,” March 1]. The new legislation defines pension funds as
“creatures of the state” and narrows the definition of
forbidden entities to include companies owned by the Sudanese government
and firms doing most of their business in Sudan, as well as entities
subject to sanctions as identified by the U.S. Treasury Department’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control. But the most significant effect of SB1169 may be
largely symbolic. William Atwood, executive director of the Illinois
State Board of Investments, says the new bill will have minimal effect,
mainly because the board acted under last year’s bill to drop
Sudan-related investments. Kati Phillips, spokeswoman for state Treasurer Alexi
Giannoulias, says that the latest bill will have no financial impact on
assets under the treasurer’s control. The action by the state came the same week as
President George W. Bush’s announcement of stricter sanctions against
the regime of Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Al-Bashir has refused to allow a U.N. peacekeeping
force in Darfur, where 400,000 people have reportedly been slaughtered by
government-backed militias since 2003. “The people of Darfur have suffered at
the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder, and
rape of innocent civilians. My administration has called these actions by
their rightful name: genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put
an end to it,” Bush said Tuesday when announcing the new sanctions. Collins calls Bush’s plan “long
overdue.”
And U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who introduced
a bill in March affirming the rights of state and local governments to pass
divestiture laws, called Bush’s action a “first step.”
Next week, Durbin says, he plans to introduce
legislation to up the penalties for corporations that violate sanctions
against Sudan and will require more detailed financial information of
companies that do business with Sudanese oil companies, as well as more
frequent progress reports from the White House. “Illinois was the first state in the nation to
stand up and say that our public pensions would no longer be associated
with the genocide and terrorism that is taking place in Sudan,”
Collins says. “Based on our experience in Illinois, Sen.
Durbin and Congresswoman [Barbara] Lee are working hard to bring the
national Sudan-divestment movement to a new level.”
If it reaches the governor and is signed, the
provisions of SB 1169 will become effective immediately.
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in May 24-30, 2007.
