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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.

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References:

Divest From Companies With Prohibitions Against Israel, Colorado General Assembly, 2016. Source link.

Repeal Divest from Companies with Israel Prohibitions Law, Colorado General Assembly, 2024. Source link.

The question of Palestine, United Nations, Aug. 15, 2024. Source link.

Type of Story: Fact-Check

Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.

Justin George is a 1995 graduate of Columbine High School. He has worked as a reporter at six news organizations including the Boulder Daily Camera, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. Email him at justin@coloradosun.com