STAND. COM. REP. NO.  7

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 34

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 34 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to voice Hawaii's opposition to the humanitarian crisis presently occurring in the Darfur Region of Sudan by prohibiting the Employees' Retirement System (ERS) from investing in securities of companies that have active business operations with Sudan.

 

     The Sudan Divestment Task Force, Hawaii Coalition for Darfur, Roman Catholic Church, Hawaii Family Forum, Hawaii Committee for Africa, American Friends Service Committee, Americans for Democratic Action, and numerous individuals testified in support of this bill.  The ERS took no position on the measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that a tragedy is currently occurring in the Darfur Region of Sudan.  The United States, along with the international community and hundreds of humanitarian and faith based organizations, have all agreed that genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.  At present, over 400,000 people have been killed in the region, with another 2.5 million people being displaced from their homes despite calls from the international community that the Sudanese Government put an end to these atrocities.  Your Committee believes that placing economic pressure on the Sudanese Government by prohibiting the ERS to invest in companies that do business with Sudan is but one step that can be taken to remedy this tragic situation.  This similar action was taken against the country of South Africa during the 1980s as a means of ending the policy of apartheid.

 

     ERS did not take a position on this measure, explaining that the ERS Board of Trustees has not yet met to discuss whether the ERS currently invests in companies that conduct business with Sudan and what effects this legislation may have on the ERS.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 34 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on International Affairs.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

ALEX M. SONSON, Chair