By Justin George | The Colorado Sun
Colorado’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association, or PERA, is barred from investing in companies that have economic prohibitions against Israel under a law passed in 2016.
The law requires PERA to identify all companies that have economic prohibitions against Israel and put together a list of these companies twice a year. PERA must notify any company on the list that it could be subject to divestment if the company continues its anti-Israel policy. If the company hasn’t dropped its policy within 180 days of being notified, PERA is required to stop investing in it.
This year, a Colorado house bill proposed to repeal the rule but it failed. The issue has come under greater scrutiny since Israel has been at war in Palestine since an Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict, according to the United Nations and Gaza’s health ministry.