Bill Text: NJ A3138 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits State from investing pension and annuity funds in manufacturers or wholesale distributors of tobacco products.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-07 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A3138 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A3138-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT J. KARABINCHAK
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits State from investing pension and annuity funds in manufacturers or wholesale distributors of tobacco products.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act prohibiting the State from investing pension and annuity funds in companies that manufacture or distribute tobacco products, supplementing P.L.1950, c.270 (C.52:18A-79 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. 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, or its successor, shall be invested in the stocks, securities, or other obligations of any corporation or other entity engaging in the manufacture or wholesale distribution of tobacco products.
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 subsection a. of this section. This section shall not 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 36 months following the effective date of this act.
c. Within 120 days after the effective date of this act, the Director of the Division of Investment shall file with the Legislature, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), a report of all investments held as of the effective date of this act that are in violation of subsection a. of this section. Every 12 months thereafter, and until all of these investments are sold, redeemed, divested, or withdrawn, the director shall file with the Legislature a report on the remaining investments. The reports shall include the progress which the division has made since the previous report and since the enactment of this act in implementing and complying with the provisions of this act, and an analysis of the fiscal impact of complying with this act upon the total value of any affected pension or annuity fund.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill prohibits the investment of the assets of any public pension or annuity fund under the jurisdiction of the Division of Investment in the stocks, securities, or other obligations of any corporation or other entity engaged in the manufacture or wholesale distribution of tobacco products.
The bill provides that existing investments in such businesses shall be divested within three years of the bill's effective date. It also requires the Director of the Division of Investment to file periodic reports with the Legislature which will describe the progress made in divesting these assets and analyze the fiscal impact of the bill on the affected pension and annuity funds.
The purpose of the bill is to prevent public pension funds from being used to support the manufacture and distribution of a product which is known to be harmful.
