Colorado’s public pension program must continue divesting from companies that economically boycott Israel after a state House committee rejected a bill that would have repealed the requirement.
The 10-1 bipartisan defeat of HB24-1169 late Monday in the House Finance Committee came after hours of emotional and tense testimony. The discussion often spiraled into support or condemnation for Israel and its months-long military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
More than 100 people testified for or against the measure, which would have repealed a 2016 state law that requires the Public Employees Retirement Association to divest from companies that participate in the BDS movement. That movement promotes boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel as a way of protesting the country’s treatment of Palestinians.
Only three companies have been flagged under the law, according to PERA. It applies only to international companies. The law costs roughly $10,000 a year to administer.
Just one member of the Democrat-controlled finance committee, Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat, voted to advance the bill. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat. She was reprimanded by House leadership last month for, among other things, disrupting House proceedings and joining pro-Palestinian protesters seated in the House’s gallery during the November special session.
Nearly 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel launched the war in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which killed 1,200 people and included the taking of about 250 hostages, some of whom are still being held.
Epps told fellow lawmakers Monday that she repeatedly had been told the legislature had no business weighing in on international affairs, but she argued that the 2016 anti-BDS law did just that.
“There is a particularly insidious criticism that is made of folks who are protesting a range of issues,” she said. “The central element of that criticism is that we’re not doing it right. … If you want to petition your pension board to do an economic boycott, that’s not right either. That can’t be how we continue to do business here.”
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The bill was widely expected to fail its first vote. Epps attempted a late amendment Monday night to turn the bill into a study of the 2016 law, but she was blocked on procedural grounds.
Supporters and opponents of the measure packed a basement committee room in the Capitol, spilling into the hall and an overflow room.
Epps and the bill’s supporters sought to cast the proposal as protecting a First Amendment right of economic protest, alongside broader criticisms of Israel and its military campaign. Opponents defended Israel and argued that the BDS movement was antisemitic and that the bill’s supporters were unfairly targeting Israel. Several of them criticized Hamas and the broader pro-Palestinian protest movement.
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