Hundreds of people attended a meeting of Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors on Friday. Many were there to express support for a new “ethical investment policy.’
The policy “discourages” the county from investing in companies that make at least ten percent of their revenue from certain industries: Those include fossil fuels, firearms, tobacco, gambling, and correctional facilities. It also prohibits investment in companies that “enable severe violations of human rights”. Although it’s not stated in the policy, many of its supporters see this clause as applying directly to companies that have ties to the Israeli government.
If implemented as is, it would apply to about 10 percent of the county’s investments — or about a billion dollars.
The board “adopted” the policy, but aren’t implementing it yet. Four of it’s five members said they needed further review of its ‘financial risk’ and whether or not it’s biased against certain governments.
The only member to approve the policy as is was Nikki Fortunato Bas.
The county’s finance committee will be in charge of the next review, but it’s not clear when they will meet.
