Defeated

This anti-boycott defunding bill prohibits institutions of higher education that participate in or provide funding to any organization that boycotts a foreign academic institution from receiving state aid. The bill also prohibits state or local officers from being members of an organization that engages in such boycotts. The bill also prohibits state contracts with institutions that violate these provisions. A number of these bills were introduced following resolutions by the Asian American Studies Association and American Studies Association endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic institutions complicit in Israel’s human rights violations. Related Bill: 8632.

This anti-boycott defunding bill directs the trustees of New York’s public colleges and universities to prohibit funding student groups that directly or indirectly promote or encourage boycotts of any allied nation or companies based in an allied nation, including Israel and the territories it occupies. The bill includes boycotts intended to penalize or “cast disrepute upon” an allied nation, its peoples, or businesses based there, but its funding prohibitions are limited to boycotts “based on race, class, gender, nationality, ethnic origin or religion,” which should exclude boycotts for Palestinian rights. 

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state investment in and state contracts with any person, including individuals, corporations, and nonprofits, that boycott allied nations, including Israel and the territories it occupies. The bill requires the state to create a blacklist of persons engaged in prohibited boycotts. The state comptroller and public retirement funds are prohibited from investing in blacklisted entities. State agencies may not enter into contracts with blacklisted companies. Contractors must provide written certification that they are not on the blacklist and have not engaged in prohibited boycotts.

This New Castle County Council anti-boycott bill requires the county pension board to establish a [blacklist] of companies engaged in boycotts of Israel or of companies based in Israel or its occupied territories. The board is required to divest its holdings from blacklisted companies.

This non-binding resolution expresses the city council’s opposition to student activist efforts calling on candidates for undergraduate student government at UCLA to sign a pledge to not take trips to Israel that are sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The resolutions claims that students who refused to sign the pledge were the subject of bullying tactics and intimidation. It states that these efforts do “not concern a policy issue relevant to the University” and calls on the University of California (UC) Board of Regents and President of the UC system to take additional action to stop such efforts.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state contracts with entities that adopt and apply boycotts in a discriminatory manner. The bill amends Massachusetts’ debarment law in order to penalize contractors that adopt “policies against any sovereign nation or peoples recognized by the government of the United States which are used to discriminate in violation of any state or federal law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations or employment.” Debarred companies are prohibited from contracting with the state for a prescribed period of time. Boycotts for Palestinian rights based on an entity’s complicity in Israel’s violations do not discriminate against a protected class and thus fall outside the scope of the bill. However, the lawmakers who put forward these bills have stated their intent to exclude individuals and companies engaged in boycotts for Palestinian rights from state contracts. 

This anti-boycott defunding bill prohibits state institutions of higher education from using state aid to fund or provide funds for membership in or travel to meetings of academic entities that engage in boycotts of countries that host New York state colleges, a short list that includes Israel. Schools that violate the prohibition are not eligible to receive state funds during the academic year in which the violation occurred. The bill provides exceptions for boycotts of countries determined by the United States to be state sponsors of terrorism, boycotts connected with labor disputes, or boycotts protesting unlawful discriminatory practices as determined by New York law. Related bill: S 2715.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state investment in and state contracts with entities that engage in boycotts of Israel or companies based in Israel or territories it occupies. The bill requires the state to create a blacklist of corporations, non-profits, or groups engaged in prohibited boycotts. State agencies may not enter into contracts and contractors may not subcontract with blacklisted entities. Contractors must provide written certification that they are not on the blacklist. The state comptroller and public retirement funds are prohibited from investing in entities engaged in prohibited boycotts. Related bill: S 2430. 

This anti-boycott defunding bill prohibits state institutions of higher education from using state aid to fund or provide funds for membership in or travel to meetings of academic entities that engage in boycotts of countries that host New York state colleges, a short list that includes Israel. Schools that violate the prohibition are not eligible to receive state funds during the academic year in which the violation occurred. The bill provides exceptions for boycotts of countries determined by the United States to be state sponsors of terrorism, boycotts connected with labor disputes, or boycotts protesting unlawful discriminatory practices as determined by New York law. Related bill: A 7340.

HRes 318 is a non-binding resolution condemning resolutions or policies by institutions of higher learning or academic associations calling for “a boycott of Israeli academic institutions or scholars.” The resolution criticizes boycotts, divestment, and sanctions efforts for “singl[ing] Israel out” and “appl[ying] a double-standard to Israel.” The bill was introduced in the wake of the American Studies Association’s resolution endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic institutions complicit in Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, which triggered a wave of efforts to penalize such boycotts.