[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4543 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4543

To express the policy of the United States to ensure the divestiture of 
 United States pension plans or thrift savings plans and mutual funds 
   sold or distributed in the United States in any bank or financial 
institution that directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans 
   to or financial activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its 
               instrumentalities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2005

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself and Ms. Berkley) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 
 addition to the Committees on Government Reform and Education and the 
 Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To express the policy of the United States to ensure the divestiture of 
 United States pension plans or thrift savings plans and mutual funds 
   sold or distributed in the United States in any bank or financial 
institution that directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans 
   to or financial activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its 
               instrumentalities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

     Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not provide legal 
        protection for freedom of religion because Salafi Islam is the 
        official religion of the country.
            (2) The Mutawwa'in, or religious police, has engaged in the 
        persecution of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia, most recently in 
        the late May 2005 detention of seven Christians whose private 
        security and property were violated.
            (3) The annual Department of State Report on International 
        Religious Freedom states that citizens of Saudi Arabia are 
        denied the freedom to choose or change their religion. 
        Specifically, conversion by a Muslim to another religion is 
        considered apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused 
        does not recant.
            (4) Sunni Muslims are discriminated against in government 
        employment and higher education and there are still cases in 
        textbooks and teachings of anti-Shi'a instruction.
            (5) Individuals of the Hindu and Sikh faiths are considered 
        under Sharia law to be polytheists and are therefore permitted 
        in accidental death or injury compensation to be allowed only 
        \1/16\ of the amount a male Muslim receives in compensation in 
        similar instances.
            (6) Saudi Arabia continues to prohibit non-Muslim clergy to 
        enter the country and conduct religious services, which 
        particularly affects religious believers such as Catholics and 
        Orthodox Christians who require religious clergy and services 
        regularly as part of their faith.
            (7) Many Christians in Saudi Arabia have been detained and 
        deported for praying or for other practices relating to the 
        expression of their faith.
            (8) Saudi Arabia law requires Saudi citizens to carry an 
        Iqamas, or a legal resident identity card, which contains 
        designation for ``Muslim'' and ``non-Muslim'', which leads to 
        discrimination by the police of non-Muslims.
            (9) The Government of Saudi Arabia continues to violate 
        freedom of speech, as exhibited in the November 2003 case of 
        Mansur al-Noqaidan who criticized the Saudi Government's 
        response to religious extremism in an editorial in The New York 
        Times and was subsequently sentenced to lashings for incendiary 
        comments.
            (10) As compiled in an extensive report by Freedom House, 
        it was found that Saudi Arabia's General Presidency for 
        Managing Research and Religious Fatwas disseminated through 
        mosques in the United States ``Document No. 20,'' which states: 
        ``It is not right for a Muslim to support the unbelievers, or 
        to ask them to support him against his enemies, they are the 
        enemy, do not trust them . . . Muslims should not be recruited 
        into their Army, whether they are Arabs or non-Arabs, because 
        the unbeliever is the enemy of the believer.''.
            (11) In the same Freedom House report, it was discovered 
        that the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., through its 
        Cultural Department, distributed fatwas against Muslims who are 
        seeking to obtain United States citizenship, even if such 
        individuals are stateless. As an example, ``Document No. 44'' 
        states: ``It is forbidden for a Muslim to become citizens of a 
        country [such as the United States] governed by infidels,'' 
        which exhibits a clear hatred and contempt for civil society 
        and pluralism in the United States.
            (12) The Saudi Air Force, Foreign Ministry, and Embassy in 
        Washington, D.C., have been used to propagate the 
        aforementioned hate ideology and to facilitate religious 
        extremism into the United States by spreading anti-pluralistic 
        and anti-democratic ideologies.
            (13) Saudi Arabia is a country that practices religious 
        apartheid and continuously subjugates its citizenry, both 
        Muslim and non-Muslim, to a specific interpretation of Islam. 
        Saudi Arabia is a country that, through its system of education 
        and segregation, is a breeding pool for terrorists. Saudi 
        Arabia is a country that exports through official government 
        agencies both terrorists and its discriminatory values. Saudi 
        Arabia is also a country that benefits from American money 
        through intermediate companies which fund such activities.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY RELATING TO DIVESTITURE FROM SAUDI ARABIA.

    It shall be the policy of the United States to work to ensure that 
managers of United States Government pension plans or thrift savings 
plans, managers of pension plans maintained in the private sector by 
plan sponsors in the United States, and managers of mutual funds sold 
or distributed in the United States immediately initiate efforts to 
divest all investments of such plans or funds in any bank or financial 
institution that directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans 
to or financial activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its 
instrumentalities. It shall further be the policy of the United States 
to ensure that assets from such divestitures are not to be invested in 
the stocks, securities, or other obligations of any entity that 
directly or through a subsidiary is engaged in financial activities in 
Saudi Arabia or its instrumentalities.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY RELATING TO PROHIBITION ON FUTURE 
              INVESTMENT.

     It shall be the policy of the United States to ensure that there 
is no future investment in any bank or financial institution that 
directly or through a subsidiary has outstanding loans to or financial 
activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its instrumentalities. It 
shall further be the policy of the United States to ensure that no such 
assets are invested in the stocks, securities, or other obligations of 
any entity that directly or through a subsidiary is engaged in business 
with Saudi Arabia or its instrumentalities.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every six months thereafter, the Secretary 
of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall 
submit to Congress a report on all investments sold, redeemed, 
divested, or withdrawn from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its 
instrumentalities.
    (b) Information to Be Included in Report.--The report required by 
subsection (a) shall contain the following information with respect to 
each investment described in such subsection:
            (1) The name or other identification of the entity.
            (2) The amount of the investment in the entity.
            (3) The progress made toward divestment.
            (4) Efforts by the Department of the Treasury and 
        Department of Commerce to inform United States investors of 
        policies articulated in sections 3 and 4 of this Act and the 
        policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that this Act seeks to 
        address.
                                 <all>