California 2015-2016 Regular Session Status: Enacted

SB 185 — Public retirement systems: public divestiture of thermal coal companies.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 605, Statutes of 2015.

Track this bill free

No card. One bill, free forever — alerts when it moves.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 09, 2015. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 72% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 2 sponsors

    1 primary, 1 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 7 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

The California Constitution provides that the Legislature may by statute prohibit retirement board investments if it is in the public interest to do so, and providing that the prohibition satisfies specified fiduciary standards. Existing law prohibits the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System from investing public employee retirement funds in a company with active business operations in Sudan, as specified, and requires these retirement systems to liquidate any investments in a company with business operations in Sudan. Existing law also prohibits these retirement systems from investing in a company that has specified investments in the energy sector of Iran, as defined, including in a company that provides oil or liquefied natural gas tankers, or products used to construct or maintain pipelines used to transport oil or liquefied natural gas. 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 thermal coal company, as defined. This bill would require the boards to liquidate investments in thermal coal companies on or before July 1, 2017, and would require 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. 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 board's fiduciary responsibilities established in the constitution. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2018, these boards to file a report to the Legislature and the Governor, containing specified information, including a list of companies of which they have 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 bill's requirements, as specified.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 605, Statutes of 2015.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.

  4. In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 47. Noes 30. Page 2794.) Ordered to the Senate.

  6. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  7. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (August 27).

  8. July 15 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  9. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  10. Referred to Com. on P.E., R., & S.S.

  11. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  12. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 1284.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  13. Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading.

  14. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 1148.) (May 28).

  15. Set for hearing May 28.

  16. April 27 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  17. Set for hearing April 27.

  18. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2. Page 593.) (April 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  19. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  20. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  21. Set for hearing April 13.

  22. Referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  23. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 12.

  24. Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • De León · Primary
  • Hill · Cosponsor

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 1 co-sponsors · 120 not signed on · 11 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • De León

Co-sponsors (1)

  • Hill

Not signed on (120)

120 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 120 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

SB 185 De León Senate Third Reading By BONTA

Passed 47 Yea · 30 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 432503
Democratic 4000
Republican 0500
Total 473003
% of votes cast 59%38%0%4%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Achadjian — Nay
Alejo — Yea
Bigelow — Nay
Bloom — Yea
Brough — Nay
Brown — Not Voting
Kim — Nay
Linder — Nay
Low — Yea
Mathis — Nay
Mullin — Yea
Obernolte — Nay
Perea — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Thurmond — Yea
Waldron — Nay
Williams — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Daly — Not Voting
Gatto — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Gomez — Yea
Lopez — Yea
Gordon — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Salas — Yea
Bonilla — Yea
Medina — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Harper — Nay
Holden — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Burke — Yea
Levine — Yea
Maienschein — Nay
Gray — Nay
Mayes — Nay
McCarty — Yea
Campos — Yea
Melendez — Nay
Baker — Nay
Chang — Nay
Chau — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Chu — Yea
Chávez — Nay
Cooley — Yea
Cooper — Nay
Dababneh — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Olsen — Nay
Quirk — Yea
Ridley-Thomas — Not Voting
Santiago — Yea
Steinorth — Nay
Ting — Yea
Wagner — Nay
Weber — Yea
Wilk — Nay
Wood — Yea
Hadley — Nay
Beth Gaines — Nay
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Nay
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Roger Hernández — Yea
Travis Allen — Nay
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay
Lackey, Tom Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 12 Yea · 5 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 10300
Democratic 2000
Republican 0200
Total 12500
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (17)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Wagner — Nay
Eggman — Yea
Chang — Nay
Gomez — Yea
Bigelow — Nay
Holden — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Weber — Yea
Wood — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

3rd Reading SB185 De León

Passed 24 Yea · 14 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 221302
Democratic 2100
Total 241402
% of votes cast 60%35%0%5%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Hernandez — Yea
Mendoza — Yea
Moorlach — Nay
Vidak — Nay
Cannella — Nay
Allen — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
De León — Yea
Hill — Yea
Lara — Yea
Leno — Yea
Pan — Yea
Hertzberg — Not Voting
Huff — Nay
Nielsen — Not Voting
Galgiani — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Hall — Yea
Hancock — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Liu — Yea
Monning — Yea
Morrell — Nay
Pavley — Yea
Roth — Nay
Wieckowski — Yea
Runner — Nay
Wolk — Yea
Anderson — Nay
Bates — Nay
Beall — Yea
Block — Yea
Fuller — Nay
Beth Gaines — Nay
Bill Berryhill — Nay
Mark Stone — Nay
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended

Passed 5 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5200
Total 5200
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Hill — Yea
Lara — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Bates — Nay
Beall — Yea
Mendoza — Yea
Nielsen — Nay

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 7000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Bates — Yea
Beall — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Hill — Yea
Lara — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Mendoza — Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

finance environment labor
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 185 do?
The California Constitution provides that the Legislature may by statute prohibit retirement board investments if it is in the public interest to do so, and providing that the prohibition satisfies specified fiduciary standards. Existing law prohibits the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System from investing public employee retirement funds in a company with active business operations in Sudan, as specified, and requires these retirement systems to liquidate any investments in a company with business operations in Sudan. Existing law also prohibits these retirement systems from investing in a company that has specified investments in the energy sector of Iran, as defined, including in a company that provides oil or liquefied natural gas tankers, or products used to construct or maintain pipelines used to transport oil or liquefied natural gas. 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 thermal coal company, as defined. This bill would require the boards to liquidate investments in thermal coal companies on or before July 1, 2017, and would require 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. 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 board's fiduciary responsibilities established in the constitution. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2018, these boards to file a report to the Legislature and the Governor, containing specified information, including a list of companies of which they have 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 bill's requirements, as specified.
Who sponsors SB 185?
SB 185 is sponsored by De León and Hill.
What is the current status of SB 185?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 09, 2015. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 185?
Track SB 185 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on SB 185

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of SB 185

Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →