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December 10, 2024 Rain | 43°F
The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

AN ACT REQUIRING DIVESTMENT OF TOBACCO STOCKS, SECURITIES OR OTHER OBLIGATIONS FROM PUBLIC PENSION FUNDS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:


SECTION 1. Subdivision (2) of section 23 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1996 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "policy", in line 205, the following words:- and no new investment of funds shall be made in stocks, securities, or other obligations of any company which derives more than 15 per cent of its revenues from the sale of tobacco products;.

SECTION 2. Said subdivision (2) of said section 23 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(h) Clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of paragraph (g) shall apply to any retirement system named in paragraph (a).

SECTION 3. Paragraph (h) of subdivision (2A) of said section 23 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following two sentences:- No public pension funds under this subdivision shall remain invested in the stocks, securities, or other obligations of any company which derives more than 15 per cent of its revenues from the sale of tobacco products; provided, however, that if sound investment policy so requires, the PRIM board may vote to spread the sale of such stocks, securities or other obligations of such company over no more than three years, so that no less than one-third the value of said investment is sold in any one year. So long as any funds remain invested in any stocks, securities, or other obligations of any such company, the PRIM board shall annually, on or before January 31, file with the clerk of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives a report listing all such related investments held by the fund and their book value as of the preceding December first.

Approved October 15, 1997.