Barbara Lee Commends CalSTRS for Sudan Divestment Vote
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) commended the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) for the board’s vote in support of a motion expressing their intention to divest the fund’s holdings in companies doing business in Sudan.
“I want to commend CalSTRS for taking a morally and financially principled stand against the genocide in Darfur today. No one should have to worry that their retirement funds are supporting genocide, and CalSTRS decision today sets an example that other pension funds, including CalPERS, should follow,” said Lee.
The board today unanimously supported a motion, introduced by State Treasurer Phil Angelides, stating that the CalSTRS board will move toward divestment of the fund’s holdings in companies with business ties to the Sudanese government following a plan modeled on the one adopted by the University of California regents in March.
Today’s vote marks a significant shift for the CalSTRS board, which just two months ago voted against a proposal to divest the fund’s holdings in PetroChina, a company with reported longstanding ties to the Sudanese government.
Earlier today, Lee and thirteen other members of the California Congressional delegation, including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Ranking Member of the House International Relations Committee, Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) sent letters to CalSTRS and CalPERS, calling on each fund to develop a plan to divest from companies doing business in Sudan.
Earlier this month, the University of California Regents voted to divest the university endowment from companies doing business in Sudan, joining Harvard and Stanford and states like Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon that are divesting their endowments and public pension funds in an effort to stop the genocide.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, legislation to impose sanctions on Sudan that included an amendment authored by Lee articulating support for the growing divestment movement in the United States.
Lee is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee, and has been a leading voice in the growing divestment movement. She has traveled twice to Darfur, first with Congressional colleagues and academy award nominated actor Don Cheadle in January, 2005 and most recently on a delegation led by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in February.
###