Legislation
SJR 81
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Full Text
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This joint resolution condemns the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and academic boycotts in particular. The version that passed deleted language that explicitly blamed boycotts for justice for increased antisemitism, focusing instead on how the human rights movement threatens Israel’s legitimacy. Companion resolution: AJR 122.

Legislation
S 1923
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law requires state pension funds to withdraw investments from any company that boycotts the goods, products, or businesses of Israel or companies operating in Israel or territories occupied by Israel. The law requires the state to create a blacklist of companies that boycott Israel. Companion bill: A925.

Legislation
SB 26
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law requires the state to develop a blacklist of companies that boycott Israel and prohibits the state from investing in blacklisted companies. The bill also prohibits state contracts with a company unless the company provides a written certification that they are not and will not engage in boycotts of Israel or territories it occupies for the duration of the contract. Because SB 26 only applies to boycotts undertaken on a discriminatory basis, boycotts for Palestinian rights fall outside its scope.

Legislation
SB 739
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law requires state contracts to include a written certification that the contractor is not and will not for the duration of the contract engage in a boycott of Israel or companies doing business in Israel. The law applies to companies, including non-profits, with 10 or more employees and contracts of $100,000 or more. Similar bills introduced during this session had extended state contract prohibitions to boycotts of “territories controlled by Israel.” The version that passed excluded this language related to Israel’s illegal settlements. Efforts by national and state-level civil and human rights groups helped defeat similar bills in 2018 and 2019. Related Bills: SB 544, SB 594, HB 1344, HB 1738, HB 2179.

Legislation
HB 2482
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law amends Kansas’ previous law (HB 2409) to remove individuals, sole proprietors, and contracts worth less than $100,000 from the purview of the state contract prohibition. The law requires contractors to sign a written certification that they are “not currently engaged in a boycott of goods or services from Israel that constitutes an integral part of business conducted or sought to be conducted with the state.” 

In 2018, a federal court blocked Kansas from enforcing the law on grounds that the “First Amendment protects the right to participate in political boycotts like the one punished by the Kansas law.” In response, Kansas lawmakers amended the law so that it no longer applied to individuals like the plaintiff, rendering the case moot, but leaving the underlying constitutional issues unresolved. The amended law leaves in place the prohibition on Kansas public entities boycotting Israel or those doing business in Israel or the territories it occupies.  Related bill: HB 2778.

Legislation
SB 1167
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law amends Arizona’s 2016 law (HB 2617) to exclude sole proprietors, companies with fewer than 10 employees, and contracts worth less than $100,000 from the prohibition on state contracts with companies that boycott Israel or territories occupied by Israel. A federal court blocked enforcement of HB 2617 in September 2018, finding that the law would likely violate the First Amendment. These amendments, which are designed to remove the plaintiffs challenging the law from its reach, may reduce the number of individuals affected by the law, but fail to resolve the underlying constitutional issues.  

The amended law leaves in place the written certification requirement for state contractors as well as the creation of a blacklist of companies in which state retirement plans are prohibited from investing.  

Legislation
HF 2331
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law requires state entities to create a blacklist of “businesses and business entities that are publicly traded and not based in the United States” that boycott Israel and territories it occupies. The law prohibits state entities from investing in or contracting with blacklisted entities for contracts of $1,000 or more. It also requires state funds to divest from blacklisted companies. Blacklisted companies can be removed from the blacklist upon written certification that they no longer boycott Israel. Related bills: SF 2281.

Legislation
SR 74
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Full Text
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This is a non-binding Senate resolution that condemns BDS, falsely claiming it creates a climate of anti-Jewish hatred. The resolution specifically condemns academic boycotts for Palestinian rights and references Indiana University and Purdue University presidents’ condemnation of academic boycotts for Palestinian rights. 

Legislation
HR 59
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Full Text
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This is a non-binding House resolution that condemns BDS, falsely claiming it creates a climate of anti-Jewish hatred. The resolution specifically condemns academic boycotts for Palestinian rights and references Indiana University and Purdue University presidents’ condemnation of academic boycotts for Palestinian rights. 

Legislation
HB 1378
Status
Passed
Date Passed
January 2016
Type(s)
Full Text
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This anti-boycott law requires the Indiana public retirement system board of trustees to create a blacklist of for-profit businesses that engage or acquiesce in efforts to “limit commercial relations with the Jewish state of Israel or businesses that are based in the Jewish state of Israel or territories controlled by the Jewish state of Israel.” The law requires public retirement funds to divest direct holdings from blacklisted companies. The preambular language smears BDS campaigns as damaging to peace and justice, harmful for Palestinian workers, and creating a climate of fear on Indiana’s college campuses.