Schiff and 8 Lawmakers Urge Gov. Brown to Sign Turkey Divestment Bill

WASHINGTON””Representative Adam Schiff and eight colleagues in the California congressional delegation on Wednesday sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown to urge him to sign AB 1597, legislation passed by the state legislature which would require the California Public Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to divest from investments in assets owned, issued, or controlled by the Turkish government if certain conditions are met.

AB 1597, which was sponsored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, passed the Assembly and Senate in August, and Governor Brown has until the end of September to sign it into law. The legislation was introduced to respond to Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide.

“We are grateful to Congressman Schiff and his colleagues for expressing their unequivocal support for AB 1597, and we call on Governor Brown to heed the call from thousands of his California constituents who have written to him and asked that he sign this important bill into law. Turkey must not be permitted to continue to fund its campaign of Genocide denial with California’s investments, and California’s public employees should not be forced to invest their pension funds into a tyrannical Turkish regime,”