Darfur Divestment May Have New Life in Conference Committee

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Sen. Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) has found a way to rescue a Darfur divestment proposal, which may, in turn, help rescue some of the people victimized in that war-torn part of Sudan.

Kruse announced today that he plans to revive the Darfur issue as an amendment to House Bill 1067, a pension issues legislation that unanimously passed in the House of Representatives. Kruse said he has the support of Rep. David Crooks, who authored the original bill.

The Darfur divestment legislation would require the Public Employee’s Retirement Fund (PERF) and the Indiana State Teacher’s retirement fund (TRF) to contact companies with business dealings in Sudan and request they cease those activities. The legislation would prohibit PERF and TRF from investing in those companies unresponsive to those requests.

     The legislation was ultimately axed in a Senate committee by Kruse, who was concerned about some of the language and amendments in the bill. He said Monday however that the bill is now in a much better form, and is optimistic it can pass in a conference committee.

     “There were concerns raised that needed to be addressed in this legislation,” Kruse said. “We needed to take a different direction. It appears that everything is coming back together now in a better form for everybody.”

     If the legislation is passed, it would represent a strong financial stand from Indiana regarding the violence in Darfur, which has claimed at least 200,000 lives and displaced more than two million people. Indiana would become the seventh state to try and cut a financial lifeline for the genocide activities going on there.

     Kruse said the derailment of this bill in the Senate’s Pensions and Labor Committee was actually a blessing in disguise.

     “What appeared to be a stoppage of the bill actually became a refinement effort to make it better,” Kruse said. “We believe it now has an excellent chance of passing. We’re very optimistic this will become law by the end of the session.”

Source: State Senator Dennis Kruse

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