Connecticut 2019 Regular Session

Connecticut House Bill HB07084 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
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3	3	LCO No. 3449 1 of 4
4	4
5	5	General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7084
6	6	January Session, 2019
7	7	LCO No. 3449
8	8
9	9
10	10	Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
11	11	AND ELECTIONS
12	12
13	13
14	14	Introduced by:
15	15	(GAE)
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19	19
20	20	AN ACT CONCERNING TH E DIVESTMENT OF STATE FUNDS
21	21	INVESTED IN COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS IN VENEZUELA.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
23	23	Assembly convened:
24	24
25	25	Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) For the purposes of 1
26	26	this section: 2
27	27	(1) "Company" means any corporation, utility, partnership, joint 3
28	28	venture, franchisor, franchisee, trust, entity investment vehicle, 4
29	29	financial institution or other entity or business association, including 5
30	30	all wholly-owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries, parent 6
31	31	companies or affiliates of such entities or business associations that 7
32	32	exist for the purpose of making profit; 8
33	33	(2) "Doing business in Venezuela" means engaging in commerce in 9
34	34	any form in Venezuela, including maintaining equipment, facilities, 10
35	35	personnel or other apparatus of business or commerce in Venezuela, 11
36	36	including, but not limited to, the lease or ownership of real or personal 12
37	37	property in Venezuela or engaging in any business activity with the 13 Raised Bill No. 7084
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39	39
40	40
41	41	LCO No. 3449 2 of 4
42	42
43	43	government of Venezuela; 14
44	44	(3) "Invest" means the commitment of funds or other assets to a 15
45	45	company, including, but not limited to, the ownership or control of a 16
46	46	share or interest in the company, and the ownership or control of a 17
47	47	bond or other debt instrument by the company; 18
48	48	(4) "Venezuela" means the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 19
49	49	including its government and any of its agencies, instrumentalities or 20
50	50	political subdivisions; 21
51	51	(5) "Oil-related activities" include, but are not limited to, activities 22
52	52	such as (A) owning rights to oil blocks, (B) exporting, extracting, 23
53	53	producing, refining, processing, exploring for, transporting, selling or 24
54	54	trading of oil, (C) constructing, maintaining or operating a pipeline, 25
55	55	refinery or other oil field infrastructure, and (D) facilitating such 26
56	56	activities, including providing supplies and services in support of such 27
57	57	activities, but do not include the selling of retail gasoline and related 28
58	58	consumer products; and 29
59	59	(6) "Petroleum resources" means petroleum, petroleum byproducts 30
60	60	and natural gas. 31
61	61	(b) The State Treasurer shall review the major investment holdings 32
62	62	of the state for the purpose of determining the extent to which state 33
63	63	funds are invested in companies doing business in Venezuela. 34
64	64	Whenever feasible and consistent with the fiduciary duties of the State 35
65	65	Treasurer, the State Treasurer shall encourage companies in which 36
66	66	state funds are invested and that are doing business in Venezuela, as 37
67	67	identified by the United States Department of Treasury's Office of 38
68	68	Foreign Assets Control or the State Treasurer, to act responsibly and 39
69	69	not take actions that promote or otherwise enable Venezuela's 40
70	70	corruption and the impoverishment of the Venezuelan people. 41
71	71	(c) The State Treasurer (1) may divest, decide to not further invest 42
72	72	state funds or not enter into any future investment in any company 43
73	73	doing business in Venezuela; and (2) shall divest and not further invest 44 Raised Bill No. 7084
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77	77	LCO No. 3449 3 of 4
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79	79	in any security or instrument issued by Venezuela. In determining 45
80	80	whether to divest state funds in accordance with the provisions of 46
81	81	subdivision (1) of this subsection, the factors that the Treasurer shall 47
82	82	consider shall include, but need not be limited to, the following: (A) 48
83	83	Revenues paid by such company directly to the government of 49
84	84	Venezuela; (B) whether the company is doing business in Venezuela 50
85	85	that involves contracts with or provision of supplies or services to (i) 51
86	86	the government of Venezuela, (ii) companies in which the government 52
87	87	of Venezuela has any direct or indirect equity share, (iii) consortia or 53
88	88	projects commissioned by the government of Venezuela, or (iv) 54
89	89	companies involved in consortia or projects commissioned by the 55
90	90	government of Venezuela where such business involves oil-related 56
91	91	activities, investments that directly and significantly contribute to the 57
92	92	development of Venezuela's petroleum resources or any other business 58
93	93	activity that has been made the subject of economic sanctions imposed 59
94	94	by the United States government; (C) whether such company 60
95	95	knowingly obstructs lawful inquiries into its operations and 61
96	96	investments in Venezuela; (D) whether such company attempts to 62
97	97	circumvent any applicable sanctions of the United States; (E) the extent 63
98	98	of any humanitarian activities undertaken by such company in 64
99	99	Venezuela; (F) whether such company is authorized by the federal 65
100	100	government of the United States to do business in Venezuela; and (G) 66
101	101	any other factor that the Treasurer deems prudent. In the event that the 67
102	102	Treasurer determines that divestment of state funds is warranted from 68
103	103	a company in which state funds are invested due to such company 69
104	104	doing business in Venezuela, the Treasurer shall give notice to such 70
105	105	company that such funds shall be divested from such company for as 71
106	106	long as such company does business in Venezuela. 72
107	107	(d) The State Treasurer shall, at least once per fiscal year, provide a 73
108	108	report to the Investment Advisory Council on actions taken by the 74
109	109	Treasurer pursuant to the provisions of this section. 75
110	110	This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
111	111	sections:
112	112	Raised Bill No. 7084
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114	114
115	115
116	116	LCO No. 3449 4 of 4
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118	118	Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
119	119
120	120	Statement of Purpose:
121	121	To require the Treasurer to consider divesting state funds invested in
122	122	companies doing business in Venezuela.
123	123	[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
124	124	except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
125	125	not underlined.]
126	126