Buckley listed federal objections to official Iran behavior including the country’s support for international terrorism, efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and “a dismal human rights record.”
“Iran remains an active state sponsor of terrorism, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Intelligence and Security directly involved in the planning of various terrorist acts,” Buckley said.
The Nevada Constitution prevents the Legislature from interfering with PERS investments, but Buckley said her measure is about transparency.
“While this Legislature cannot interfere with investments undertaken by PERS, this does not mean PERS can’t be held to public account on the amount it invests in and profits from companies who actively do business with a country engaged in undermining military efforts and whose anti-American public statements are intended to incite anti-Americanism and derail the Middle East peace process,” Buckley said.
PERS executive officer Dana Bilyeu told committee members that the constitution “requires the PERS board to invest for the exclusive financial benefit of the members and beneficiaries of the fund.”
“That prevents the consideration of any social issues in the investment process itself. We must only, only look to the financial interests of members,” Bilyeu said, adding that PERS will provide what information it can on Iran-related oil investments, but that such information isn’t always readily available.
Bilyeu also said that because most oil companies have international holdings, it’s difficult to determine how much funding actually originates from business conducted in Iran. She used the example of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, which operates Shell in the United States.
“It is considered a global company, with over 100,000 employees in a number of countries. Less than one percent of those employees are in Iran,” Bilyeu said. “By comparison, Royal Dutch Shell employs 23,000 people in the United States.”
Bilyeu said after the hearing that it would cost the PERS retirement system $21 million to divest from such companies.
PERS investment officer Ken Lambert said oil companies linked to Iran make up less than 1 percent, or $167 million, of the system’s $18 billion retirement portfolio. He called the measure a “worthy issue, but difficult” because of the difficulty in identifying Iran-linked activities within each corporation.
Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said similar resolutions have passed over the years but PERS “has always taken the position that it was counterproductive to limit their ability to invest in companies that had some nexus to some of these rogue countries with policies we dislike intensely.”
“If we start making investments mainly on social considerations, whether it’s PERS or the state, then we do a great disservice to our own economy,” Raggio said.
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