S Con Res 14, SA 3357 is an anti-boycott amendment to the congressional budget bill that allows Congress to withhold federal funding from manufacturers that engage in boycotts for justice against US allies, including Israel.
S Con Res 14, SA 3358 is an anti-boycott amendment to the congressional budget bill that prohibits use of nutrition assistance funds, like SNAP, to buy products from companies that boycott US allies, including Israel.
S 2829 is an anti-boycott bill that enables corporate shareholders to sue companies for taking actions on a basis “facially unrelated to the pecuniary interest” of the company, which includes business decisions that aim to address racial, gender, or other forms of injustice. At the same time, the bill prohibits shareholders from suing companies that seek to punish other companies for boycotting Israel. The bill also calls for stock exchanges to delist companies that fail to follow the bill’s requirements. The bill explicitly targets “‘woke’ social policy actions” on the part of corporations at the same time that it encourages companies to punish boycotts for justice.
This bill, titled the Combating International Islamophobia Act, was introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar and calls on the State Department to establish an Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia. The debate surrounding the bill, as well as the 15 amendments that were introduced, were rife with Islamophobia. Opponents of the bill attempted to shift the debate to antisemitism and criticism of Israel. The version passed by the House included an amendment stating, “No funds made available pursuant to this Act or an amendment made by this Act may be used to promote or endorse a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement ideology.”
S 2489 requires an act of Congress in order to reverse Trump-era guidelines that require goods produced in Areas C and H2 in the West Bank to be labeled as “Made in Israel.” Republican Senator Marco Rubio, one of the bill’s sponsors, smears boycotts for justice while defending Israel’s illegal settlements to explain his support for the bill: “The bill would prohibit the Biden Administration from issuing new labelling guidelines that would help the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement target specific goods made in the territory controlled by 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 HF2373 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 was signed by the governor in March 2022 and will go into effect in July 2022.
A companion bill, HF 2373 (formerly HB 639), was signed by the governor in March 2022 and will go into effect in July 2022.
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 bill amends Ohio’s 2017 anti-boycott law (HB 476), which prohibits state contracts with companies, including sole proprietors, that boycott any jurisdiction with which Ohio can enjoy open trade, including Israel and the territories it occupies. The amendment expands the scope of the law to include state institutions of higher education in the definition of state agencies to which the anti-boycott law applies. In addition, this bill requires state schools to make free expression policies, including the anti-boycott law, available to all students and to create formal processes to adjudicate complaints of free speech violations by university employees. The bill went into effect in July 2022.
