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Pennsylvania State Senate
05/10/2024 02:09 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20230&cosponId=41753
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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: November 15, 2023 01:35 PM
From: Senator Doug Mastriano
To: All Senate members
Subject: Pennsylvania Divestment from the Chinese Communist Party
 
As the State of California and City of San Francisco roll out the red-carpet and a parade for President Xi Jinping, a murderous dictator and adversary of the United States, I intend to introduce legislation to divest all Pennsylvania holdings associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

My bill will provide for the gradual divestiture by the State Treasurer, the State Employees Retirement System (SERS), and the Public-School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) of investments in companies controlled by the CCP.

For far too long, Pennsylvania has invested hundreds of millions in government funds to a regime that continues to trample on human rights.

The atrocities are wide-ranging and include the suppression of basic freedoms. Under international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the widespread and systematic persecution of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities on religious, cultural, ethnic and gender grounds; constitutes crimes against humanity.  

According to the United Nations, it is estimated that 2 million Uyghurs Muslims are currently or have been held in large scale concentration camps for the purpose of torture and cultural genocide.  Reports from the lucky few who have escaped these camps are nothing short of horrendous. The CCP’s chief goal in Xinjiang has been the destruction of an entire group by wiping out their religion, language, and ethnic identity.

The CCP has also used force and aggression to methodically erode self-rule in Hong Kong, weaken democracy in Taiwan, and abuse basic human rights in Tibet.   

Additionally, most of the fentanyl that has killed tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians is manufactured in China. The CCP knows this and has refused to take measures to stop its production and export.

It is far past time to separate our state funds from companies controlled by the CCP.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. If you have any questions regarding this bill, please contact Joshua Herman in my office at jherman@pasen.gov


Introduced as SB1141