HB 396: "An Act restricting certain investments of state funds in certain Russian entities; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 396 01 "An Act restricting certain investments of state funds in certain Russian entities; and 02 providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 05 to read: 06 RUSSIA DIVESTMENT; DIVESTMENT EXEMPTIONS, IMMUNITY, AND 07 INDEMNIFICATION; NOTICE. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 08 commissioner or a fiduciary of a fund subject to AS 37 may not invest in and shall cause the 09 fund to divest ownership, if any, in the publicly traded securities of Russian entities. 10 Divestment of an ownership interest in a Russian entity shall occur within 90 days after the 11 entity is identified as a Russian entity under (c) of this section. If a fund has investments 12 managed by an outside investment manager, the fiduciary shall, within 90 days after the entity 13 is identified as a Russian entity under (c) of this section, direct the investment manager not to 14 invest in and to divest, within 90 days after receiving the direction, ownership, if any, in the
01 publicly traded securities of a company identified under this section as a Russian entity. 02 (b) If an investment in a fund under (a) of this section is managed as a commingled 03 investment or other business structure in which the fund is not the sole owner of the 04 investment interest or if the investment is an index fund, the provisions of (a) of this section 05 do not apply. The commissioner shall require that, within 90 days after the commissioner 06 identifies a Russian entity under (c) of this section, the fiduciary submit letters to the 07 managers of commingled investments requesting the managers to consider removing the 08 Russian entity from the commingled investment. 09 (c) The commissioner shall 10 (1) identify Russian entities and create and regularly update a list of Russian 11 entities; 12 (2) provide each Russian entity identified under this subsection written notice 13 and an opportunity to comment in writing. 14 (d) On or before January 31, 2023, the commissioner shall advise the president of the 15 senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the United States presidential special 16 envoy for Russia of the Russian entities identified under (c) of this section. 17 (e) For actions taken or inaction done, in good faith, in compliance with this section, 18 the commissioner or a fiduciary, or an agent, attorney, trustee, officer, employee, staff 19 member, custodian, research firm, or investment manager under contract of the commissioner 20 or the fiduciary, or a board member is 21 (1) exempt from a conflicting state statutory or common law obligation, 22 including an obligation with respect to choice of an asset manager, investment fund, or 23 investment for the securities portfolio of the public fund; 24 (2) immune from liability under state or local law; 25 (3) indemnified and held harmless by the state from claims, demands, suits, 26 actions, damages, judgments, costs, charges, and expenses, including costs and attorney fees, 27 and against all liability, losses, and damages of any nature that the commissioner or the 28 fiduciary, or the agent, attorney, trustee, officer, employee, staff member, custodian, research 29 firm, or investment manager under contract of the commissioner or the fiduciary, or the board 30 member may, at any time, sustain because of a decision to restrict, reduce, or eliminate an 31 investment made in compliance with this section; and
01 (4) immune from adverse licensing actions under AS 08. 02 (f) Not later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, the Department of Law shall 03 submit written notice to the Attorney General of the United States describing this Act. 04 (g) The commissioner may adopt regulations under AS 44.62 to carry out the 05 purposes of this section. 06 (h) In this section, 07 (1) "commissioner" means the commissioner of revenue; 08 (2) "Russian entity" means 09 (A) all Russian sovereign debt; or 10 (B) an entity identified by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the 11 United States Department of the Treasury as 12 (i) being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported 13 to act for or on behalf of, the government of Russia; or 14 (ii) operating or having operated in the financial services sector 15 of the economy of the Russian Federation. 16 * Sec. 2. Section 1 of this Act is repealed January 1, 2024. 17 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).