Public employee retirement systems: prohibited investments: Turkey.

Existing California Constitution provisions grant 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, upon the passage of a federal law that imposes sanctions on the government of Turkey for failure to officially acknowledge its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, prohibits the boards of administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System from making additional or new investments, or renewing existing investments, of public employee retirement funds in an investment vehicle in the government of Turkey that is issued by the government of Turkey or that is owned by the government of Turkey. Existing law repeals the above-described provision on January 1, 2025, or upon a determination by the board, the United States Department of State, the Congress of the United States, or another appropriate federal agency that the government of Turkey has officially acknowledged its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, whichever occurs first. This bill would, in addition, prohibit state trust moneys from being used to make additional or new investments or to renew existing investments in investment vehicles issued or owned by the government of Turkey, unless the government adopts a policy to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and embark on a path of affording justice to its victims. The bill would define "state trust moneys" to mean funds administered by specified state employee retirement funds, including the Public Employees' Retirement Fund and the Legislators' Retirement Fund.