Amendment ID: S2477-106-R1

Redraft Amendment 106

Fossil Fuel Divestment

Ms. Jehlen, Messrs. Collins, Pacheco and Eldridge, Ms. Comerford, Messrs. Moore, Timilty, O'Connor and Keenan, Ms. Gobi and Ms. Rausch move that the proposed new draft be amended by inserting the following new section:-

SECTION XX. Section 1 of Chapter 32, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Fiduciary” the following definition:-

“Fossil fuel company”, a company identified by a Global Industry Classification System code in one of the following sectors: (1) coal and consumable fuels; (2) integrated oil and gas; (3) oil and gas exploration and production.

SECTION XX. Section 1 of Chapter 32, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Hospital District” the following definition:-

“Independent retirement system” shall mean any Massachusetts public pension system under the oversight, monitoring, and regulation of the public employee retirement administration commission, except the state employees retirement system, the state teachers’ retirement system, and the State-Boston retirement system in so far as the assets attributable to teachers who are members of that system.

SECTION XX. Section 23 of Chapter 32, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting in subsection (h), in line 365, after the word “year” the following:-

“Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any Independent Retirement Board may, in accordance with the procurement process described in M.G.L. c. 32, § 23B, divest in whole or in part from any investment in fossil fuel companies, the assets of which remain under the direct control and management of the independent retirement system, and are not separately managed or invested by the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board. In accordance with this provision, an independent retirement board may, after following the process described in M.G.L. c. 32, § 23B, invest in index funds or other investment vehicles that may not include fossil fuel companies.”

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, with respect to actions taken in compliance with this act, the public fund shall be exempt from any conflicting statutory or common law obligations, including any such obligations with respect to choice of asset managers, investment funds or investments for the public fund’s securities portfolios and all good faith determinations regarding companies as required by this act.”

SECTION XX. This act shall take effect upon its passage.