A note on Illinois’ anti-BDS law repeal effort
In recent weeks, I’ve received some questions about a bill moving through the Illinois General Assembly. And, while I don’t often comment on state legislation, I understand the reasons for these questions, given the bill’s connection to a vote I cast more than a decade ago. I’d like to take this opportunity to share how my thinking has evolved since that time.
Back in 2015, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law to ban Illinois pension systems from investing in companies that boycott Israel or territories controlled by the State of Israel. The vote was unanimous at the time, and I was among the ‘yes’ votes.
I would not cast the same vote today, and I want to explain why.
First, here’s what the bill was actually about: Illinois pension funds invest enormous amounts of money, paid by millions of public employees as well as state and local governments, in order to have the assets needed to pay out promised pensions. In addition to funding the retirement of public workers, the performance of these investments determines how much future taxpayers will have to spend.
For these reasons, the legislature has been hesitant to inject political considerations into pension investment decisions, only restricting investments for a tiny handful of reasons. The pension systems are allowed to invest in almost any company, no matter how contrary its business practices are to our values – unless it boycotts Israel.
The past few years have laid bare the consequences of government using its economic power to bully private entities. All of us have watched as the Trump administration has attacked free speech, often under the guise of combatting antisemitism. They often do so using economic pressure (for instance through the withholding of grants to universities and the leveraging of regulatory power against media companies) rather than outright bans or prosecution, so as to be able to claim that they’re not violating the First Amendment.
It’s wrong when the Trump administration does it, and I’ve come to believe that laws like Illinois’ ban on investments feed into the framework that makes actions like this possible.
On the topic of Israel-related boycotts, I want to be clear. I am not a supporter of the global BDS movement. But that isn’t the question. Whether or not you believe in boycotting Israel or Israeli products from the occupied West Bank, or in boycotts in general, we should all be able to agree that our government must not be wielded to stop people from using their economic agency to advocate for their values. It’s time to repeal the ban on pension funds investing in companies that boycott Israel or Israel’s illegal settlements. There are bills in the Illinois House (HB2723) and Senate (SB2462) today that would do just that, and I hope the Illinois General Assembly passes them.
Should I be elected to Congress this fall, I will use that seat to oppose national efforts to criminalize or crack down on free speech or peaceful political activity. And I will do so irrespective of whether I personally agree with the activity in question, because protecting free expression is necessary in order to maintain a free society.
A few clarifications and a question:
8 and likely soon-to-be 9 constitues more than "a tiny handful of reasons" that Illinois has prohibited its pension to invest in comapnies. Those reasons include: Iran's nuclear program, genocide in Darfur, Russia to Belarus for invasion of Ukraine, apartheid South Africa, and companies contracting to shelter migrant children, have moved their HQs out of the U.S. to avoid taxes, BDSing Israel and, on the horizon, private prisons.
Among all those categories there are almost 600 companies that the pension funds can't invest in. BDS accounts for less than 5%. (Only two of the almost 600 are American companies.)
So the argument that "The pension systems are allowed to invest in almost any company, no matter how contrary its business practices are to our values – unless it boycotts Israel," is patently false.
Finally, if "government using its economic power to bully private entities" is wrong, then would Mayor Biss, in addition to regretting his anti-BDS vote, have voted against the divest from apartheid South Africa law, or the ones protecting migrant children and incarcerated people stuck in private prisons?
Good move, Daniel.