ASSEMBLY, No. 232

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

 

 

By Assemblyman GARCIA

 

 

An Act concerning the investment of certain public funds and the purchase of certain goods or services and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Free Cuba Act."

 

    2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

    a. The government of Fidel Castro has constantly demonstrated a consistent disregard for internationally adopted standards of human rights and democratic values.

    b. The Cuban people have demonstrated their desire for freedom and democracy and their opposition to the Castro government by risking their lives by organizing demonstrations and voicing opposition to the Castro regime and by bravely undertaking the hazardous and perilous 90 mile journey of freedom to the United States.

    c. The Castro regime has actively engaged in narcotics trafficking to America's shores, which has cost our nation billions of dollars for treatment, prevention, and law enforcement.

    d. The Castro regime has placed citizens of the United States in danger by maintaining a government dominated by the military and proliferating its offensive military capacity just 90 miles from this nation's shores.

    e. New Jersey fully supports the federal "Cuban Democracy Act of 1992" and the trade embargo imposed by the government of the United States against the Cuban government.

 

    3. a. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no assets of any pension or annuity fund under the jurisdiction of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury shall be invested in any bank or financial institution which directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans to the Republic of Cuba or its instrumentalities, and no assets shall be invested in the stocks, securities or other obligations of any company engaged in business in or with the Republic of Cuba.

    b. The State Investment Council and the Director of the Division of Investment shall take appropriate action to sell, redeem, divest or withdraw any investment held in violation of the provisions of this act. Nothing in this act shall be construed to require the premature or otherwise imprudent sale, redemption, divestment or withdrawal of an investment, but such sale, redemption, divestment or withdrawal shall be completed not later than three years following the effective date of this act.

    c. Within 30 days after the effective date of this act, the Director of the Division of Investment shall file with the Legislature a list of all investments held as of the effective date of this act which are in violation of the provisions of this act. Every three months thereafter, and until all of these investments are sold, redeemed, divested or withdrawn, the director shall file with the Legislature a list of the remaining investments. The director shall include with the first such list, and with the lists to be filed at six month intervals thereafter, (1) a report of the progress which the division has made since the previous report and since the enactment of this act in implementing its provisions, and (2) an analysis of the fiscal impact of the implementation of those provisions upon the total value of and return on the investments affected, taking all possible account of the investment decisions which would have been made had this act not been enacted, and including an assessment of any increase or decrease, as the result of the implementation of those provisions and not as the result of market forces, in the overall investment quality and degree of risk characteristic of the pension and annuity funds' portfolio.

 

    4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no State department, board, bureau, commission, authority or other agency of State government shall purchase on or after the effective date of this act the goods or services of any company engaged in business in or with the Republic of Cuba.

 

    5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire when Fidel Castro ceases to be President of Cuba.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill, entitled the "Free Cuba Act," imposes a ban on pension investments in companies that do business in or with the Republic of Cuba which is similar to the ban on pension investments in companies that do business in or with the Republic of South Africa. The bill provides that no assets of any pension or annuity fund under the jurisdiction of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury shall be invested in any bank or financial institution which directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans to the Republic of Cuba or its instrumentalities, and no assets shall be invested in the stocks, securities or other obligations of any company engaged in business in or with the Republic of Cuba.

    The bill also provides that no State department, board, bureau, commission, authority or other agency of State government shall purchase on or after the effective date of this act the goods or services of any company engaged in business in or with the Republic of Cuba.

    This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire when Fidel Castro ceases to be President of Cuba.

 

 

 

Prohibits investing certain pension funds in companies that do business in or with Cuba; prohibits certain purchases.