If Gov. Bobby
Jindal wishes to continue to put himself on a path to a run for the White
House in 2016 and to promote good state policy simultaneously, there’s
something he can get behind in the area of foreign policy during the Louisiana
Legislature’s current regular session that’s good for both the state and
country.
Just as the prefiling period for session
bills came to an end, Pres. Barack Obama
declared victory in getting any deal negotiated between the United States and
several other prominent states and Iran described as a means by which to
constrain its nuclear ambitions. Great debate has ensued, with almost all
Republican, but also including some Democrat, national lawmakers noting the
framework’s inability to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weaponry, which
stays consistent with Obama’s
overall foreign policy thinking.
As a result, some states’
legislatures have decided to pursue
passing laws akin to those already existing in several other states that
require divestment in any enterprise that deals with Iran and/or barring these
from state contracts. Even if the federal
government lifted sanctions, it can do nothing constitutionally about states’
decisions on where to invest their money and with whom to do business.
Louisiana is not among those states
with a law permitting this. Statute only
addresses the issue in that state and statewide pension systems must report
semiannually to both chambers’ retirement committees about any system
investments in companies that have a presence in Iran, or with North Korea, the
Sudan, and Syria. No prohibition of investment exists.
Given the uncertain prudence of
Obama’s foreign policy, as well as any flawed moves in this area by future
presidents, Louisiana could assist in improving the making of this by changing
the reporting into a prohibition. Unfortunately, with this being an odd-year,
fiscal-only session of the Legislature, non-fiscal bills cannot be introduced
other than by prefiling.
But there is a bill out there that
is not so removed from this subject matter that to change it would not violate joint rules of the
Legislature that prevent amending or substituting of bills in a way to make them too dissimilar to their
original contents according to rules for that kind of session. SB 16 by
Sen. Elbert Guillory cleans up
large swaths of retirement laws and adds a few substantive changes applying to
the four state systems. It includes details about using investment earnings,
sufficiently close to the larger subject of investment of assets generally, and
therefore could become the vehicle by which to swap the reporting requirement with
a ban on investing in the four prohibited states, giving a target date for
completing divestment.
Of course, protocol means Guillory
would have to agree to these changes, but it seems unlikely he or anybody else
would object to appending this material given it is likely to enjoy widespread
policy-maker support. Yet given the urgency of budgetary questions that demand
satisfactory resolution by the end of the session Jun. 11, this relatively
minor issue in the larger scheme of things probably won’t bring clamoring from
legislators themselves to get Guillory to make the addition or to help him
assure passage of the bill with that addendum.
Thus, it would be up to Jindal to
articulate a desire to see this in the bill and to have compiled the background
information on it helpful to decision-making by legislators. It’s something he
well could have interest in, for as it addresses foreign policy, an area that
atypically serves as an issue in state policy-making, it also obviously becomes a way
to demonstrate awareness and concern of a major national foreign policy issue that
translates well to presidential campaigning.
Louisiana can do its small part to
help, at best, encourage good foreign policy or, at worst, mitigate the
problems created by bad decision-making coming from 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue by making the change in statute. This session, Guillory, Jindal, and all
legislators should take on that commitment.
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