00                             HOUSE BILL NO. 287                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to certain investments of the Alaska permanent fund, the state's                                       
02 retirement systems, the State of Alaska Supplemental Annuity Plan, and the deferred                                     
03 compensation program for state employees in companies that do business in Sudan, and                                    
04 restricting those investments."                                                                                         
05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
06    * Section 1. AS 37.10 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                  
07            Sec. 37.10.212. Investments in companies involved in business in Sudan.                                    
08       (a) The board shall comply with requirements of AS 37.13.125. For purposes of this                                
09       subsection, references to the "board" in AS 37.13.125 are construed to mean the                                   
10       "Alaska Retirement Management Board."                                                                             
11            (b)  To the extent that this section conflicts with AS 37.10.270(a) or other                                 
12       provisions, the provisions of this section prevail. The board may cooperate with the                              
13       Board of Trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in carrying out the                                    
14       requirements of AS 37.13.125.                                                                                     
01    * Sec. 2. AS 37.13 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                     
02            Sec. 37.13.125. Investments in companies involved in business in Sudan.                                    
03       (a) The board shall make its best efforts to identify all scrutinized companies in which                          
04       the fund has direct or indirect holdings or might have holdings in the future that have                           
05       active business operations in Sudan. The board shall prepare and update on a quarterly                            
06       basis a scrutinized companies list. A company that stops active business operations in                            
07       Sudan shall be removed from the list, and a company that becomes engaged in or                                    
08       resumes active business operations in Sudan shall be added to the list. The scrutinized                           
09       companies list shall be created and updated based on evolving information, including                              
10       information obtained by                                                                                           
11                 (1)  reviewing publicly available information regarding companies with                                  
12       active business operations compiled by nonprofit organizations, research firms,                                   
13       international organizations, and government entities;                                                             
14                 (2)  contacting fund asset managers regarding the identity of companies                                 
15       with active business operations;                                                                                  
16                 (3)  contacting other institutional investors that have divested from                                   
17       companies that have active business operations.                                                                   
18            (b)  A company may not be included on the scrutinized companies list if                                      
19                 (1)  its primary purpose in Sudan is to provide humanitarian goods or                                   
20       services, services of a purely clerical or reporting nature, or food, clothing, or                                
21       consumer goods that do not include oil-related activities, mineral extraction activities,                         
22       or power production activities and if the company has not taken actions within the                                
23       immediately preceding 20-month period that support or promote the genocidal                                       
24       campaign in Darfur, including actions that prevent Darfur's victimized persons from                               
25       communicating with each other, that encourage Sudanese citizens to speak out against                              
26       an internationally approved security force for Darfur, or that alter the record on human                          
27       rights abuses in Darfur;                                                                                          
28                 (2)  it has adopted, publicized, and implemented a formal plan to stop                                  
29       active business operations within one year and to refrain thereafter from resuming                                
30       active business operations;                                                                                       
31                 (3)  it has undertaken significant humanitarian efforts in conjunction                                  
01       with an international organization, the government of Sudan, the regional government                              
02       of southern Sudan, or a nonprofit entity that has been evaluated and certified by an                              
03       independent entity to be substantial and of benefit to one or more marginalized                                   
04       populations of Sudan; or                                                                                          
05                 (4)  it has materially improved conditions for the genocidally                                          
06       victimized population in Darfur through negotiation with the government of Sudan.                                 
07            (c)  The board shall, on an ongoing basis, identify the companies on the                                     
08       scrutinized companies list in which the fund has direct or indirect holdings. For each                            
09       identified company, the board shall determine whether the company is engaged in                                   
10       active business operations or is now engaged only in inactive business operations. The                            
11       board shall send a written notice informing each company engaged only in inactive                                 
12       business operations of the requirements of this section and shall encourage the                                   
13       company to refrain from initiating active business operations. After sending the notice,                          
14       the board shall remove the company from the scrutinized companies list. The board                                 
15       shall send a written notice to each company engaged in active business operations that                            
16       the company is subject to divestment by the fund. The notice must offer the company                               
17       the opportunity to clarify its activities in Sudan and encourage the company to stop its                          
18       active business operations or convert the active business operations to inactive                                  
19       business operations to avoid divestment by the fund. If, within 90 days after the notice                          
20       has been sent, the company stops its active business operations, the company shall be                             
21       removed from the scrutinized companies list.                                                                      
22            (d)  If, 90 days after notice is sent by the board, a company continues to have                              
23       active business operations in Sudan, all publicly traded securities of the company held                           
24       directly by the fund and managed by an employee of the fund shall be immediately                                  
25       sold, redeemed, or otherwise divested. At least 50 percent of the assets of the company                           
26       held directly by the fund but not managed by an employee of the fund shall be                                     
27       divested within nine months after the company's most recent placement on the                                      
28       scrutinized companies list, and the balance of those assets shall be divested during the                          
29       next six months.                                                                                                  
30            (e)  Indirect holdings of the fund in assets of a company on the scrutinized                                 
31       companies list that has active business operations need not be divested if the assets are                         
01       part of a separate, actively managed commingled fund in which other investors also                                
02       own shares or interests. However, the board shall submit a letter to the manager of the                           
03       actively managed fund requesting that consideration be given to removing the                                      
04       company from the fund or creating a similar actively managed fund with assets that do                             
05       not include companies with active business operations in Sudan. If the manager                                    
06       creates that other fund, the board shall replace investments in the original fund with                            
07       investments in the other fund in an expedited manner that is consistent with the                                  
08       prudent investment standard.                                                                                      
09            (f)  By February 1 of each year, the board shall file a report with the                                      
10       legislature, the attorney general, and the United States Presidential Special Envoy for                           
11       Sudan summarizing its activities under this section. The report must include the most                             
12       recently updated list of scrutinized companies.                                                                   
13            (g)  To the extent that this section conflicts with AS 37.13.120 or other                                    
14       provisions, the provisions of this section prevail. The board may cooperate with the                              
15       Alaska Retirement Management Board in carrying out the requirements of this                                       
16       section.                                                                                                          
17            (h)  In this section,                                                                                        
18                 (1)  "active business operations" means engaging in commerce in any                                     
19       form in Sudan, including acquiring, developing, maintaining, owning, selling,                                     
20       possessing, leasing, or operating equipment, facilities, products, services, property, or                         
21       other apparatus of business or commerce, but does not include inactive business                                   
22       operations;                                                                                                       
23                 (2)  "company" means any sole proprietorship, organization,                                             
24       association, partnership, corporation, joint venture, limited partnership, limited                                
25       liability company, or other entity or business association, including all wholly owned                            
26       subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries, parent companies, or affiliates or business                            
27       associations that exist for profit-making purposes;                                                               
28                 (3)  "government of Sudan" means the government in Khartoum,                                            
29       Sudan, lead by the National Congress Party or any successor government, including                                 
30       the coalition Government of National Unity agreed on in the Comprehensive Peace                                   
31       Agreement for Sudan, but does not include the regional government of southern                                     
01       Sudan;                                                                                                            
02                 (4)  "inactive business operations" means the mere continued holding                                    
03       or renewal of rights to property in Sudan previously used for the purpose of generating                           
04       revenue but not presently used for that purpose;                                                                  
05                 (5)  "marginalized populations" includes the portion of the populations                                 
06       in the Darfur region that has been genocidally victimized and in southern Sudan that                              
07       has been victimized by Sudan's north-south civil war, the Beja, Rashidiya, and other                              
08       similarly underserved groups of eastern Sudan, the Nubian and other similarly                                     
09       underserved groups in Sudan's Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and Nuba Mountain                                        
10       regions; and the Amri, Hamadab, Manasir, and other similarly underserved groups of                                
11       northern Sudan;                                                                                                   
12                 (6)  "mineral extraction activities" means exploring for, extracting,                                   
13       processing, transporting, or wholesale selling or trading of minerals, and includes the                           
14       provision of supplies, services, or other forms of support for those activities;                                  
15                 (7)  "oil-related activities" means exploring for oil, owning rights to oil,                            
16       exporting, extracting, producing, refining, processing, transporting, selling, or trading                         
17       oil, or constructing, maintaining, or operating an oil pipeline, refinery, or other oil                           
18       infrastructure, and includes the provision of supplies, services, or other forms of                               
19       support for those activities, but does not include the retail sale of gasoline and oil-                           
20       based consumer products;                                                                                          
21                 (8)  "power production activities" means any business operation that                                    
22       involves a project commissioned by the National Electricity Corporation of Sudan or                               
23       other similar government of Sudan entity that engages in power generation and                                     
24       delivers, sells, installs, or maintains components for power generation and delivery                              
25       projects, and includes the provision of supplies, services or other forms of support for                          
26       those activities;                                                                                                 
27                 (9)  "scrutinized company" means a company                                                              
28                      (A)  with business operations that involve contracts with,                                         
29            provision of supplies to, or provision of services to the government of Sudan, a                             
30            company in which the government of Sudan has a direct or indirect equity                                     
31            interest, or a company that is involved in a consortium or project                                           
01            commissioned by the government of Sudan if                                                                   
02                           (i)  more than 10 percent of the company's revenue or                                         
03                 assets linked to Sudan involve oil-related activities or mineral                                        
04                 extraction activities and less than 75 percent of the company's revenue                                 
05                 or assets linked to Sudan involve contracts with or provision of oil-                                   
06                 related or mineral extracting products or services to the regional                                      
07                 government of southern Sudan or a project or consortium created                                         
08                 exclusively by that regional government; or                                                             
09                           (ii)  more than 10 percent of the company's revenue or                                        
10                 assets linked to Sudan involve power production activities and less than                                
11                 75 percent of the company's power production activities include                                         
12                 projects to provide power or electricity to the marginalized populations                                
13                 of Sudan;                                                                                               
14                      (B)  that is complicit in the Darfur genocide by supporting or                                     
15            promoting the genocidal campaign, including taking action to prevent Darfur's                                
16            victimized persons from communicating with each other, to encourage                                          
17            Sudanese citizens to speak out against an internationally approved security                                  
18            force for Darfur, or to alter the record on human rights abuses in Darfur; or                                
19                      (C)  that supplies military equipment to Sudan, unless the                                         
20            company can clearly demonstrate that the equipment is not being used by a                                    
21            party participating in armed conflict in Sudan, or is supplied solely to the                                 
22            regional government of southern Sudan or an internationally recognized                                       
23            peacekeeping force or humanitarian organization.                                                             
24    * Sec. 3. AS 37.10.212 and AS 37.13.125 are repealed on the day after the Alaska                                   
25 Retirement Management Board and the Board of Trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund                                      
26 Corporation jointly inform the revisor of statutes that                                                                 
27            (1)  the United States Congress or the President of the United States has                                    
28 declared that the Darfur genocide                                                                                       
29                 (A)  has been halted; and                                                                               
30                 (B)  has not resumed for at least 12 months;                                                            
31            (2)  the United States has revoked all sanctions it imposed against the                                      
01 government of Sudan;                                                                                                    
02            (3)  the United States Congress or the President of the United States has                                    
03 declared that the government of Sudan has honored its commitments                                                       
04                 (A)  to stop attacks on civilians;                                                                      
05                 (B)  to demobilize and demilitarize the Janjaweed and associated                                        
06       militias;                                                                                                         
07                 (C)  to grant free and unfettered access for deliveries of humanitarian                                 
08       assistance; and                                                                                                   
09                 (D)  to allow for the safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally                              
10       displaced persons; or                                                                                             
11            (4)  the United States Congress or the President of the United States, through                               
12 legislation or executive order, declares that mandatory divestment of the types provided for in                         
13 AS 37.13.125 interferes with the conduct of United States foreign policy.                                               
14    * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to                          
15 read:                                                                                                                   
16       TRANSITION. Within 90 days after the effective date of AS 37.10.212, added by sec.                                
17 1 of this Act, and of AS 37.13.125, added by sec. 2 of this Act, the Alaska Retirement                                  
18 Management Board and the Board of Trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation                                     
19 shall prepare the initial list of scrutinized companies required to be identified by those                              
20 sections.