States Weigh Pros and Cons of Sudan Divestment

States Weigh Pros and Cons of Sudan Divestment, April 2007

Some time in the near future, COLORADO Gov. Bill Ritter (D) is expected to sign House Bill 1184, which requires the state’s public pension fund to rid itself of an estimated $141 million in holdings in companies that do business with the civil war-torn African nation of Sudan. IOWA Gov. Chet Culver (D) is also expected to sign SB 361, which would require the Hawkeye State to sell off its own Sudan-related holdings. In doing so, Ritter and Culver will make their states the eighth and ninth to undertake such a divestment, with several more primed to follow suit. But while supporters hail these measures as an appropriate moral stand against the Sudanese government and the genocide it is accused of carrying out in Darfur, others contend they are unconstitutional and could potentially harm pensioners in those states. [click title to continue reading]

Rich Ehisen

Rich Ehisen has been a reporter and editor for almost 30 years, and is currently the editor in chief at Capitol Weekly, which covers the California State Capitol in Sacramento. For two decades previous he was the managing editor of the State Net Capitol Journal, a LexisNexis publication that covers state public policy issues and trends nationwide. In that role he was also the producer and host of the SNCJ Deep Dive podcast and the SNCJ Hot Issues webinar series. He is also the producer and moderator of The Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words, a podcast and YouTube show that features his discussions on writing with crime fiction, mystery and thriller authors.