Survey of PA Senators for Sudan Divestment

We have asked that Pennsylvania State Senators check the blanks and return the letters, indicating their intended votes on H.B. 1140 and H.B. 1086, the two Sudan Divestment bills currently before them. The forms are due back to PDEC by August 20. We will be publishing the results of the survey on this site and elsewhere. Please contact your state senator immediately to urge her or him to fill out the survey and return it to PDEC in the addressed envelope provided, i.e. PDEC, 826 N. Meadowcroft Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15216.
 
We are not expressing a preference for one bill over the other but are asking the senators to indicate their intentions with regard to both bills. We want to show the Senate Finance Committee, where both of the bills are currently logjammed, that Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly desire Sudan divestment now. Please make the call and tell your Senator to return the survey letter today!

			HB 1140	HB 1086
7/26	Jay Costa (D- Allegheny)		yes	yes
7/31	J Barry Stout (D- Eighty Four)		yes	yes
8/2	Michael J. Stack (D- Philadelphia)		yes	yes
8/13	Connie Williams (D- King of Prussia)	Finance Committe	yes	yes
8/13	Jane C. Orie (R- North Hills)	Majority Whip	yes	yes
8/20	John Pippy (R- Mount Lebanon)		yes	yes
8/25	Wayne D. Fontana (D-Pittsburgh)		yes	yes
8/27	Jim Ferlo (D-Pittsburgh)		yes	no
8/29	Robert J. Mellow (D-Lackawanna)		yes	yes
9/11	Shirley M. Kitchen (D-Philadelphia)		yes	yes
9/11	Mike Waugh (R-York)		undecided	undecided

PDEC thanks Jim Ferlo and his assistant Stephen Bruder for forwarding the survey to his colleagues.

The following is a copy of the letter sent to Pennsylvania State Senators.

Dear Senator:

The Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition has been working with the Sudan Divestment Task Force and other groups across Pennsylvania to bring about divestment of state public employees pension investments from companies that are supporting the Sudanese government and military in the commission of genocide against the people of Darfur. Currently, twenty-seven states have divested public employee pension funds, some of them larger than Pennsylvania's, from select high offending companies. These states have accomplished divestment within the bounds of their fiduciary duty and have experienced no adverse financial consequences.  The U.S. Congress recently passed the Sudan Divestment and Accountability Act giving states legal protection from liability associated with state fund divestment and in fact encouraging such divestments to take place.

In Pennsylvania, we now have the opportunity to enact Sudan divestment through one of two bills:

H.B. 1140, the Sudan Divestment Act, which passed the House overwhelmingly (194-3) in the summer of 2007, but has been stuck in the Senate Finance Committee for over a year.

H.B. 1086, providing for divestment from Iran and Sudan, which passed the House overwhelmingly this past June (185-15), but was also not reported out of the Senate Finance committee this past legislative session.

We are enclosing copies of the front pages of both bills for your convenience, along with a list of states that have already passed Sudan divestment legislation.

Specifically, we would appreciate knowing from you at your earliest convenience:

1. How you would be prepared to vote on H.B. 1140, the Sudan
Divestment Act, if and when it is reported out of the Finance
Committee and sent to the floor of the Senate?

    Yes ______ No__________ Undecided _______

 

2. How you would be prepared to vote on H.B. 1086, if and when it
would be reported out of Committee?

    Yes ______ No__________ Undecided _______

 

A self-addressed envelope is enclosed for your convenience. We will be tallying the results on August 20, 2008 and would appreciate hearing from you before that date. You may also respond via email to David Rosenberg, jumphook@gmail.com.
 

            Sincerely,
            David L. Rosenberg, Coordinator
            Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition
            412-892-8842
 
Enclosures: Page with Histories of H.B. 1140 and H.B. 1086

      Return address envelope
 
 Notes:

(1) The Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition has successfully worked for divestment of City of Pittsburgh employee pension funds from companies known to be enabling genocide in Darfur. We are currently supporting legislation in Allegheny County Council with the same objective. We have collected thousands of signatures from Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania in the past year on petitions in support of H.B. 1140.
 

(2) The states that have adopted Sudan divestment are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont.  Seventeen of these have adopted the Sudan Divestment Task Force's targeted divestment model, which has guided the drafting of both H.B. 1140 and H.B. 1086.