STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1121

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1311

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1311, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE REPEAL OF ACT 192, SESSION LAWS OF HAWAII 2007,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to repeal Act 192, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, which requires the Employees' Retirement System to divest itself of investments in companies that provide support for the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and to provide annual reports to the Legislature on the status of those divestments.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Employees' Retirement System Board of Trustees. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that the Legislature enacted Act 192, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007 (Act 192), to voice its opposition to the humanitarian crisis that was occurring in Darfur, Sudan, and to place economic pressure on the Sudanese Government by joining the international community in establishing sanctions. To that end, Act 192 prohibited the Employees' Retirement System (ERS) from investing in companies that do business with Sudan and required the ERS administrator to identify and monitor those companies.

Your Committees further find that Act 192 was to remain in effect only insofar as it continued to be consistent with the foreign policy of the United States. Further, Act 192 set forth specific triggering conditions that, upon their occurrence, would necessitate its repeal. Your Committees find that one or more of these triggering conditions was satisfied by the following: (1) Executive Order 13761 of January 13, 2017, Recognizing Positive Actions by the Government of Sudan and Providing for the Revocation of Certain Sudan-Related Sanctions; (2) Department of State Public Notice 10156, Notice Regarding Positive Actions by the Government of Sudan; and (3) the Presidential Memorandum of October 26, 2020, Certification Pursuant to Section 6(E) of the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004, as Amended by the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. Therefore, this measure accordingly repeals Act 192.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making it effective upon its approval.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1311, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1311, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair