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Divestment and Pennsylvania's Public Employee Retirement System S P E C I A L R E P O R T: DIVESTMENT AND PENNSYLVANIA’S PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT SYSTEMS A Report to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Concerning Restrictive Investment Mandates and their Potential Impact upon the Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the State Employees’ Retirement System Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission S P E C I A L R E P O R T: DIVESTMENT AND PENNSYLVANIA’S PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT SYSTEMS A Report to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Concerning Restrictive Investment Mandates and their Potential Impact upon the Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the State Employees’ Retirement System Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission Harrisburg, Pennsylvania October 2007 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT COMMISSION Gubernatorial Appointees Legislative Appointees Mr. Paul D. Halliwell Senator Patrick M. Browne Chairman District 16 Consulting Actuary Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton Counties Mr. A. Carville Foster, Jr. Senator Jay Costa, Jr. Vice Chairman District 43 Retired Legislator Allegheny County Dr. J. Richard Aronson Representative R. Ted Harhai William L. Clayton District 58 Professor of Business & Economics Westmoreland County Lehigh University Mr. Christ J. Zervanos Representative Steven W. Cappelli Retired Director of Labor Relations District 83 Office of Administration Lycoming County Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Ms. Paula R. Mandle President The Swarthmore Group Acting Executive Director: James L. McAneny Commission Office: 510 Finance Building P. O. Box 1429 Harrisburg, PA 17105-1429 Telephone: (717) 783-6100 FAX: (717) 787-9531 E-mail: perc.state.pa.us COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT COMMISSION HARRISBURG 17120 October 2007 To: Governor Rendell and Members of the General Assembly The attached report was prepared by the Commission in response to the national movement to encourage legislatively mandated divestment from companies that do business with politically, socially, or morally repugnant countries or causes. Most recently, these initiatives have been embodied in House Bill Number 1140 (Sudan divestment) and House Bill Numbers 1085 and 1087 (divestment from companies doing business with State sponsors of terrorism). The report presents a general discussion of the issues involved in divestment legislation, summaries of analytical studies of prior economic sanction programs, including their cost and effectiveness, the concerns raised by State involvement in foreign affairs and reliance upon private contractors to identify targeted corporations for divestment, and the cost projections of the two State retirement systems if the terror-sponsor legislation were passed. On behalf of the Commission, I hereby submit the report for your review and consideration. The Commission hopes that you will find it beneficial in your deliberations on this important and complex aspect of public employee retirement system administration. Sincerely, Paul D. Halliwell Chairman -i- Table of Contents Letter of Transmittal ..........................................i Table of Contents ............................................iii Executive Summary .......................................... ix Part I. Introduction and Overview ............................. 1 – Introduction....................................... 1 – Overview ......................................... 2 Part II. Background and Discussion ............................. 7 – The Retirement Systems.............................. 7 – Socially Responsible Investing ......................... 8 – Divestment ........................................ 9 – Recent Divestment Trends ........................... 10 Part III. Divestment Bill Review and Analyses .................... 13 – Bill Review House Bill Number 1140, Printer’s Number 2190 ........ 13 – Bill Review House Bill Number 1085, Printer’s Number 1257, and House Bill Number 1087, Printer’s Number 1259 ........ 18 – Bill Analyses ...................................... 20 Part IV. Policy Considerations ................................ 23 – Departure from Current Practice Regarding Restrictive Investment Mandates ............ 23 – Fiduciary Duties of Pension Plan Trustees................ 24 – Investment Authority of the Retirement Boards ............ 24 – Absence of Authoritative Guidance..................... 25 – Sanctioned Companies and Pennsylvania Economic Development................. 27 -iii- Table of Contents (Cont’d) Part IV. Policy Considerations (Cont’d) – Effectiveness of Ad Hoc Divestment Initiatives ............. 28 – Unresolved Legal and Constitutional Questions............ 29 – Divestment and Foreign Policy ........................ 30 – Exclusion of Other Governmental Plans and Institutional Investors ............................ 31 – Precedence for Future Restrictive Investment Mandates ..... 31 Part V. Divestment Costs .................................... 33 – Current Total Market Value .......................... 33 – Investment Performance ............................. 34 – Increased Risk and Volatility ......................... 35 – Effect of Divestment on Indirect Investments ............. 36 – Impact on Assumed Investment Returns and Employer Contribution Requirements ................ 36 – Cumulative Effect of Reduced Earnings.................. 40 – Transaction, Administrative and Monitoring Costs ......... 44 Part VI. Appendices ......................................... 47 – Appendix I ....................................... 49 The Divestment Bills House Bill Numbers 1140, 1085 and 1087 – Appendix II ....................................... 79 State Divestment Legislation (as of July 30, 2007) National Conference of State Legislatures – Appendix III ...................................... 93 “Sudan Company Rankings” Sudan Divestment Task Force – Appendix IV ..................................... 115 PSERS and SERS Correspondence with Companies Doing Business with Sudan -iv- Table of Contents (Cont’d) Part VI. Appendices (Cont’d) – Appendix V ..................................... 177 “The Terrorism Investments of the 50 States” The Center for Security Policy – Appendix VI ..................................... 295 Companies held by SERS and PSERS which may be Targeted for Divestment (at June 30, 2007) – Appendix VII ..................................... 307 House Resolution No. 263 (2003 Legislative Session) – Appendix VIII .................................... 313 House Resolution No. 36 (2007 Legislative Session) – Appendix IX ..................................... 323 Correspondence Requesting Guidance from Federal Authorities – Appendix X ...................................... 355 “SEC Halts Watch List Tool” Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2007 – Appendix XI ..................................... 359 Federal Legislation (H. R. 2347 and H. R. 180) – Appendix XII ..................................... 407 “Governor Rendell Helps Break Ground on Westinghouse Nuclear Headquarters” News Release: August 14, 2007 – Appendix XIII .................................... 411 Pennsylvania Employment Impact – Appendix XIV .................................... 415 “Should Public Plans Engage in Social Investing?” Center for Retirement Research at Boston College August 2007, Number 7-12, by Alicia H. Munnell -v- Table of Contents (Cont’d) Part VI. Appendices (Cont’d) – Appendix XV ..................................... 433 Legal and Constitutional Issues – Appendix XVI .................................... 453 SERS and PSERS Holdings in Companies Targeted For Divestment Tables – Table I .......................................... 35 12 Month Return of Targeted Companies vs. MSCI EAFE – Table II.......................................... 37 State Employees’ Retirement System, Potential Impact of Divestment on Employer Contribution Rate – Table III ......................................... 38 Public School Employees’ Retirement System, Potential Impact of Divestment on Employer Contribution Rate – Table IV......................................... 39 Potential Impact of Divestiture on Local School Districts For FY 2006/2007: Illustration of Impact of Reduction of PSERS’ Investment Earnings Assumption – Table V.......................................... 40 S&P 500 Index Comparison with the S&P South Africa Free Index – Table VI......................................... 41 State Employees’ Retirement System, Financial Impact of Divesting from Companies “Engaged in Business with” Terror Sponsoring States (HB 1085) – Table VII......................................... 42 State Employees’ Retirement System, Financial Impact of Divesting from Companies on the Sudan Divestment Taskforce List (HB 1140) -vi- Table of Contents (Cont’d) Tables (Cont’d) – Table VIII........................................ 43 Public School Employees’ Retirement System, Financial Impact of Divesting from Companies “Engaged in Business with” Terror Sponsoring States (HB 1087) – Table IX......................................... 44 Public School Employees’ Retirement System, Financial Impact of Divesting from Companies on the Sudan Divestment Taskforce List (HB 1140) -vii- Executive Summary This report concerns one element of economic sanctions intended to influence the policies and practices of foreign governments: divestment of securities and shares of companies that do business with targeted nations. Probably because of the ascendance of public pension systems as major institutional investors, divestment legislation
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