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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1747 FILED ON: 1/19/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1723 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Marc R. Pacheco |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act authorizing independent retirement boards to divest from fossil fuel companies. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Marc R. PachecoThird Bristol and Plymouth 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1747 FILED ON: 1/19/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1723 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Mr. Pacheco, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1723) of Marc R. Pacheco for |
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| 19 | 19 | | legislation to authorize independent retirement boards to divest from fossil fuel companies. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Public Service. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE SENATE, NO. 722 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act authorizing independent retirement boards to divest from fossil fuel companies. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 SECTION 1. For the purposes of this section, an “independent retirement system” shall |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2mean any Massachusetts public pension system under the oversight, monitoring, and regulation |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3of the public employee retirement administration commission, except the state employees |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4retirement system, the state teachers’ retirement system, and the State-Boston retirement system |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5in so far as the assets attributable to teachers who are members of that system; and a “fossil fuel |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6company” shall mean a company identified by a Global Industry Classification Standard code in |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7one of the following sectors: (1) coal and consumable fuels; (2) integrated oil and gas; or (3) oil |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8and gas exploration and production. |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9 Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any independent retirement |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10system may, in accordance with the procurement process under section 23B of chapter 32 of the 2 of 2 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11General Laws, divest in whole or in part from any investment in fossil fuel companies, the assets |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12of which remain under the direct control and management of the independent retirement system, |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13and are not separately managed or invested by the Pension Reserves Investment Management |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14Board. In accordance with this section, the board of an independent retirement system may, after |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15following the procurement process under said section 23B of said chapter 32, invest in index |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16funds or other investment vehicles that may not include fossil fuel companies. |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17 SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, with respect to |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18actions taken in compliance with this act, the public fund shall be exempt from any conflicting |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19statutory or common law obligations, including any such obligations with respect to choice of |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20asset managers, investment funds or investments for the public fund’s securities portfolios and |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21all good faith determinations regarding companies as required by this act |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22 SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. |
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