U.S.-Mexico border wall fight: California considers divesting from companies involved in the project

Mercury News – by Katy Murphy

SACRAMENTO — Three California Democrats have a warning for contractors who sign up for President Donald Trump’s border-wall construction project between the U.S. and Mexico: Build it, and we will divest from your company.

In the latest act of resistance against the Trump administration, the state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would force the state to drop its pension investments in any companies involved in the project.  

“This is a wall of shame and we don’t want any part of it,” Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said in a statement. “Immigrant stories are the history of America and this is a nightmare.”

The announcement of the proposal came on Monday, three days after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested proposals for “border wall prototypes.

Assembly Bill 946 would require the California Public Employee Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System — the two largest public pension funds in the nation, with investments of $312 billion and $202 billion, respectively — to liquidate investments in any company involved with the wall’s construction within a year. It would also require the pension-fund management to report a list of those companies to the Legislature.

Messages to state GOP lawmakers seeking comment were not returned Monday afternoon.

The proposal will be carried by Ting and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, and Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/20/u-s-mexico-border-wall-fight-california-considers-divesting-from-companies-involved-in-the-project/

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