State Investments

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 illegal Israeli settlements. The bill requires the state to create a blacklist of corporations, non-profits, and groups engaged in prohibited boycotts. State agencies may not enter into contracts with blacklisted entities, and contractors must provide written certification that they are not on the blacklist. The bill also prohibits investment of public retirement funds in blacklisted entities. Similar bills have failed to pass in previous sessions. Related bills: A02093

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 illegal Israeli settlements. The bill requires the state to create a blacklist of corporations, non-profits, and groups engaged in prohibited boycotts. State agencies may not enter into contracts with blacklisted entities, and contractors must provide written certification that they are not on the blacklist. The bill also prohibits investment of public retirement funds in blacklisted entities. Similar bills have failed to pass in previous sessions. Related bills: S 04479.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state investment in and state contracts with entities that engage in boycotts of allied nations, including Israel, or companies based in allied nations or territories occupied by allied nations. The bill requires the state to create a blacklist of corporations, non-profits, and groups engaged in prohibited boycotts. State agencies may not enter into contracts with blacklisted entities, and 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. Similar bills have failed to pass in previous sessions.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state contracts with and investments in entities that boycott Israel. It amends New York’s retirement and social security law and state finance law to prohibit the state comptroller from investing in entities engaging in boycotts against Israel, mandating divestment from any companies that engage in such activity. This bill also requires the creation of a public blacklist of companies found to boycott Israel. Additionally, this bill prohibits the state from entering into contracts with entities that boycott Israel. Similar bills have failed to pass in previous sessions.

HB 608 is an anti-boycott investment prohibition bill that orders the creation of a blacklist of companies that boycott Israel or illegal Israeli settlements. The bill requires Montana’s board of investments to divest from all holdings of and prohibits the state from investing in blacklisted companies. The bill excludes actions “taken pursuant to a boycott against a public entity of Israel if the boycott is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner,” which should exclude boycotts for justice. However, the preambular text makes clear that it is state policy to oppose BDS.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits any portion of New Hampshire’s state retirement and pension funds from being used to invest in any company involved in a boycott of Israel. 

This anti-boycott bill prohibits investment of state retirement funds in entities, including non-profits, that engage in boycotts of Israel or territories occupied by Israel. Since 2015, South Carolina has had an anti-boycott law in effect (H 3583) that prohibits state contracts with companies that boycott South Carolina’s trading partners, including Israel. 

This anti-boycott law prohibits state investment in entities that engage in boycotts of Israel. The law calls for the creation of a blacklist of companies engaged in prohibited boycotts and requires public agencies to divest from blacklisted companies. The bill’s legislative findings target boycott and divestment campaigns, including “environmental, social, or governance campaign[s]” and misrepresent boycotts for justice as based on “discriminatory decision[s] based on geographic or national origin.” 

This bill, formerly HSB 639, amends Iowa’s 2016 anti-boycott law (HF 2331), and expands the definition of companies subject to the law  to include a “wholly owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, parent company, or affiliate of such business or business.”

Iowa’s anti-boycott law requires state entities to create a blacklist of entities 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.  The amendments in HF 2373 are specifically aimed at Ben & Jerry’s and in response to the ice cream company’s 2021 announcement that it would stop doing business in illegal Israeli settlements. Ben and Jerry’s and its London-based parent company, Unilever, have come under attack from Israel and its allies who have called for states to use anti-boycott laws to divest from Unilever. The bill went into effect in July 2022. Related bill: SF 2265.

This anti-boycott bill prohibits state contracts with and state investment—both direct and indirect—in companies that boycott Israel. The bill calls for the creation of a blacklist of restricted companies from which the state must divest and in which it cannot directly invest. The bill excludes indirect investments where it is unlikely that more than 0.05% of the fund’s total investments is invested in blacklisted companies. The bill also prohibits state contracts of any value with entities that boycott Israel, requiring the commissioner of taxation and finance to confirm that the company is not engaged in prohibited boycotts before accepting a bid. This bill expands the scope of New York’s executive order prohibiting state investment in companies that boycott Israel.