[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1746 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1746

   To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for a corporate 
    responsibility investment option under the Thrift Savings Plan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 20, 2013

 Mr. Whitehouse (for himself and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 
                   Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for a corporate 
    responsibility investment option under the Thrift Savings Plan.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Employees Responsible 
Investment Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Department of Labor has asserted that socially 
        responsible investments meet the fiduciary standards set in the 
        Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
            (2) Eighty-four percent of mutual fund investors would be 
        more likely to invest in a fund if one of its principles was to 
        invest in companies that engage in ethical business practices 
        in terms of operations and reporting.
            (3) Seventy-one percent of investors agree that companies 
        that operate with higher levels of integrity carry less 
        investment risk, and 67 percent of investors believe that these 
        companies deliver better investment returns.
            (4) The United States National Research Council has 
        established that human activity is largely responsible for 
        recent climate change and threatens significant harm to our 
        Nation's public health and welfare, security, agriculture and 
        forestry, natural resources, infrastructure, and economy.
            (5) In 2012, $3,740,000,000,000 was invested in socially 
        responsible funds in the United States.

SEC. 3. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY STOCK INDEX FUND.

    (a) Definition.--Section 8438(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (10) as 
        paragraphs (3) through (11), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) the term `Corporate Responsibility Stock Index Fund' 
        means the fund established under subsection (b)(1)(G).''; and
            (3) in paragraph (10), as redesignated by paragraph (1) of 
        this subsection, by striking ``paragraph (8)(D)'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``paragraph (9)(D)''.
    (b) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--Section 8438(b)(1) of title 5, United 
        States Code, is amended--
                    (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(G) a Corporate Responsibility Stock Index Fund as 
        provided under paragraph (6).''.
            (2) Fund requirements.--Section 8438(b) of title 5, United 
        States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(6)(A)(i) The Board shall select a minimum of one index which is 
a commonly recognized, passively managed index comprised of stocks 
(from the United States or international equity markets) that have been 
analyzed and selected based on criteria consistent with the purposes of 
this paragraph.
    ``(ii) The criteria under clause (i) shall at a minimum include--
            ``(I) corporate governance;
            ``(II) environmental practices (including greenhouse gas 
        emissions and contribution to climate change);
            ``(III) workplace relations and benefits;
            ``(IV) product safety and impact;
            ``(V) international operations and human rights;
            ``(VI) involvement with repressive regimes; and
            ``(VII) community relations.
    ``(iii) The historical performance of each index selected under 
this subparagraph shall be comparable to that of the other investment 
funds and options available under this subsection.
    ``(B) The Corporate Responsibility Stock Index Fund shall be 
invested in a portfolio designed to replicate the performance of the 
index in subparagraph (A) (or, if more than one index is selected, the 
overall average performance). The portfolio shall be designed such 
that, to the extent practicable, the percentage of the Corporate 
Responsibility Stock Index Fund that is invested in each stock is the 
same as the percentage determined by dividing the aggregate market 
value of all shares of that stock by the aggregate market value of all 
shares of all stocks included in such index (or indexes).''.
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