Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Notwithstanding any general or special law or regulation to the contrary, the state treasurer, acting as the treasurer/custodian of the state employees' retirement system and the teachers' retirement system, and as the chairman of the pension reserves investment management board, is hereby authorized and directed to investigate by means of a survey the extent to which corporations organized under the laws of the United States or the several states and operating in Northern Ireland, in which the assets of said retirement systems or of the pension reserves investment trust fund are invested, adhere to principals of nondiscrimination in employment and freedom of workplace opportunity. In conducting said survey, the treasurer may utilize any information presently available relative to similar pension plans. In making said determination, said treasurer shall consider, without limitation, the following standards for corporate activity:

(1) equal access to employment, promotion, and job-preservation without regard to religious affiliation or other minority status;

(2) the promotion of religious tolerance within the workplace, and the eradication of any manifestations of religious and other illegal discrimination;

(3) adherence to other legal and regulatory guidelines for nondiscrimination and equality of opportunity, existing in Northern Ireland;

(4) adherence to the McBride Principles for Northern Ireland, so-called.

Said treasurer shall set forth the results of said investigation by filing a report with the clerks of the house of representatives and of the senate not later than the first business day in January of each year. Said report shall include, but not be limited to, the names and addresses of all United States corporations operating in Northern Ireland in which the assets of said retirement systems or trust fund are invested, and the findings of said treasurer relative to these corporations' adherence to the standards for corporate activity as set forth. Said treasurer shall also report his recommendations, if any, consistent with prudent fiduciary practice, based upon the findings of said investigation. Said report shall be available for public inspection in the offices of the clerks of the house of representatives and of the senate, and in the office of the state treasurer.

The treasurer, subject to the approval of the investment committee, established under paragraph (a) of subdivision (1) of section twenty-three of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws, and said pension reserves investment management board, established under paragraph (a) of subdivision (2A) of said section twenty-three, shall, where necessary, appropriate, and consistent with prudent standards for fiduciary practice, initiate and support shareholder petitions or initiatives requiring corporate action in compliance with the standards for nondiscrimination set forth in this act.