SB 252: Public retirement systems: fossil fuels: divestment.

The California Constitution grants the retirement board of a public employee retirement system plenary authority and fiduciary responsibility for investment of moneys and administration of the retirement fund and system. These provisions qualify this grant of powers by reserving to the Legislature the authority to prohibit investments if it is in the public interest and the prohibition satisfies standards of fiduciary care and loyalty required of a retirement board.

Existing law prohibits the boards of the Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System from making new investments or renewing existing investments of public employee retirement funds in a thermal coal company, as defined. Existing law requires the boards to liquidate investments in thermal coal companies on or before July 1, 2017, and requires the boards, in making a determination to liquidate investments, to constructively engage with thermal coal companies to establish whether the companies are transitioning their business models to adapt to clean energy generation. Existing law provides that it does not require a board to take any action unless the board determines in good faith that the action is consistent with the boards fiduciary responsibilities established in the California Constitution.

This bill would prohibit the boards of the Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System from making new investments or renewing existing investments of public employee retirement funds in a fossil fuel company, as defined. The bill would require the boards to liquidate investments in a fossil fuel company on or before July 1, 2031. The bill would temporarily suspend the above-described liquidation provision upon a good faith determination by the board that certain conditions materially impact normal market mechanisms for pricing assets, as specified, and would make this suspension provision inoperative on January 1, 2035. The bill would provide that it does not require a board to take any action unless the board determines in good faith that the action is consistent with the boards fiduciary responsibilities established in the California Constitution.

This bill would require the boards, commencing February 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, to file a report with the Legislature and the Governor, containing specified information, including a list of fossil fuel companies of which the board has liquidated their investments. The bill would provide that board members and other officers and employees shall be held harmless and be eligible for indemnification in connection with actions taken pursuant to the bills requirements, as specified.