To: Deborah Goldberg, Massachusetts State Treasurer, Massachusetts House of Representatives, and Massachusetts Senate
Massachusetts: Stop Profiting From the Yemen War
Saudi Arabia's dictatorship has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians though its campaign of bombing and starvation.
We urge the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to enact H.2349 and stop investing pension funds in U.S. arms companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Why is this important?
The state of Massachusetts is profiting from Saudi Arabia's brutal war in Yemen.
How? The Massachusetts pension fund invests in companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Four of the biggest companies selling arms to the Saudi dictatorship are Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin. And Saudi Arabia has used these weapons to kill thousands of civilians in Yemen.
Right now, the Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would divest the state of Massachusetts pension fund from arms companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. That legislation is Massachusetts House Bill 2349, introduced by MA State Rep. Denise Provost. The bill already has 20 sponsors.
There are many ways to grow the Massachusetts state pension fund. We don't need to profit off of industries of death and destruction in order to take care of retired state employees who have devoted their careers to public service.
FULL TEXT OF BILL H.2349:
"Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, within 60 days of the effective date of this act, the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board established in section 23 of chapter 32 of the General Laws shall divest from the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund all stocks, securities and other obligations of any company selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unless the company announces, within 30 days of the effective date of this act that it will not renew or enter into contracts for weapon sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
SOURCE:
"Bill H.2349, An Act relative to pension divestment from companies selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Viewed Nov. 11, 2019, https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H2349