"It's time to set partisanship aside & unite to do everything we can to isolate Russia from any Texas economic ties."
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – While the world watches as Vladimir Putin's Russia invades the country of Ukraine – and after State Sen. Paul Bettencourt's original letter signed by 23 of Texas' 31 Senators grew in popularity – the Texas Senate has now delivered a unanimously-signed letter to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick requesting an "Interim Charge" study be undetaken prior to the 2023 Legislative Session to determine how and where to protect State Government Assets that may be at risk due to the Russian invasion.
As the severity of the situation in Ukraine escalates, there is growing concern that some investments made on behalf of the State of Texas in foriegn countries might be at risk due to international investment exposure.
Following Russia's country-wide attack on Ukraine, it is clear that the invasion not only imposes a risk to world stability, but also presents a potential risk of investment losses if a state government entity has funds invested in Russia or Russian Federation associated equities.
"We must take steps to protect Texas Taxpayer Assets from Totalitarian Regimes that go to war against Democracies without reason or provocation, and that could change investment rules at the snap of a finger," said Bettencourt (at right, on the floor of the Texas Senate.)In order to protect the state's investment assets and condemn Mr. Putin's and the Russian Federation's aggression, the Senator's letter calls for an "Interim Charge" – a legislative term used to describe the activites undertaken by legislators and various State House & Senate Committees when the legislature is not in session – and included the following language:
"An interim charge to study the feasibility that calls for the state's comptroller to, 'prepare and maintain, and provide to each state governmental entity, a list of all companies that invest in the Russian Federation.' The state's asset owners would be required to notify those companies of their inclusion on the list and give 90 days to divest their positions."
The language in the Interim Charge Request mirrors that of language in Senate Bill 13 from the 2021 Regular Legislative Session, which passed the Texas Senate by a 28 to 3 margin and dealt with financial company boycotts. Governor Greg Abbott signed that bill on June 14th, 2021, and it became effective September 1st, 2021.
Senator John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and Dean of the Senate, commended the 31-member Senate's effort, sayiing:
"It's time to set partisanship aside and unite to do everything we can to isolate Russia from any Texas economic ties."
The U.S. Treasury Department has already imposed sanctions on certain individuals within the Russian Federation, and is limiting the financial capabilities of Russian banks and certain aspects of the country's financial markets.
"Because Texas was an Independent Republic, our Texan Hearts go out to those Ukrainians fighting for their freedom as Texans once did – especially on this day, March 2nd, Texas Independence Day," concluded Bettencourt while making comments earlier in the week.
Because it rarely occurs that all 31 Senators co-sign a letter of recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor, the signature page now signed by all 31 Texas State Senators includes:
If investments made on behalf of various State Agencies are determined to be vulnerable to international exposure by the Interim Charge review and are not changed within 90 days, the Senator's letter says "state funds would be required to sell, redeem, divest, or withdraw all publicly traded securities of the company."
As listed in the Senator's letter, the state invested funds subject to possible divestment include, though are likely not limited to, those held by the:
Texas County & District Retirement System- Texas Emergency Services Retirement System
- Texas Employees Retirement System
- Texas Municipal Retirement System
- Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF)
- Texas Teacher Retirement System, and
- UTIMCO, the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company
As the severity of the situation in Ukraine escalated, Bettencourt said he felt it necessary to initiate the effort, and subsequently asked his Senate colleagues to join in signing on to the letter.
