Democratic Rep. Tyrone Brooks and Republican Rep. Wendell Willard are sponsoring a bill in the Georgia House to pull public pension and retirement investments from companies that do business with or in Sudan. The bill was introduced in the Georgia State Senate last year by Republican Senator David Sharer.
From the Sudan Divestment Task Force:
"I approach the subject of divestment with a high degree of caution. I understand the arguments on both sides of the issue, and I am not dismissive of the concern about slippery slopes," Sen. Shafer said. "But I am persuaded that the atrocities being committed in Darfur are of such magnitude that simply doing nothing is not an option."
"Targeted divestment measures such as this helped end the apartheid policies in South Africa," Dr. Keisha Hoerrner, Darfur Urgent Action Coalition of Georgia chairperson, said. "While our citizens cannot take up arms and defend the Darfuri people in person, we can make sure that none of our key retirement investments are funding the genocide in Sudan."
Similar to targeted divestment policies adopted by 15 other states, SB 370 would require Georgia's public pension funds to divest from certain companies doing business in Sudan that substantially benefit the central government, provide no benefit to Sudan's citizens, and that have failed to address their role in facilitating Sudan's genocide.
With approximately $63 billion in total pension fund assets, Georgia's financial impact on the divestment effort on the Sudanese government would be substantial.
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