Divesting in Iran (Audio)

Air Date:03/04/2010

By Jenifer Jones

A bill that seeks to divest state funds from companies that do business with Iran is moving through the legislature. The House State Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 134 with a vote of eleven to two.
 
The bill gives the South Dakota Investment Council fifteen months to divest from two oil companies doing business with Iran. Representative Marc Feinstein of Sioux Falls supports the measure. He says it bothers him that that money invested in the companies could be used to hurt South Dakotans.
 
"Iran makes money off of those through their oil investments and through their oil reserves," Feinstein says. "They use that money to make weapons that kill our South Dakota soldiers."
 
State investment officer Matt Clark opposes the bill. He says he doesn't want to go down a path of social investing, and says the measure wouldn't be effective.
 
"If we actually believed that selling our shares to some other fund who's likely going to be somebody who doesn't care about these issues, if we thought that would do any good, we would agree," Clark says.
 
The bill next goes to the House floor for further debate.

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