Voters in three Peoria County townships signaled strong support for a push to repeal an Illinois law that blocks investment of public pension funds with companies that choose to boycott Israel.
The nonbinding advisory question on the ballot in Peoria, Kickapoo and Medina townships asked whether legislative representatives should support the Illinois Human Rights Advocacy Protection Act, allowing businesses to participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] movement.
The referendum received a 68% yes vote in Peoria Township, just over 60% in Medina Township and slightly less than 60% in Kickapoo Township.
“The direct implication is for our representatives to know that the people overwhelmingly want to remove this law from Illinois, and to move on to get it off our books,” said Hind Abi-Akar, who represents Peoria for Palestine and the Illinois Coalition for Human Rights.
The existing 2015 law, the nation’s first of its kind, requires the Illinois Investment Policy Board [IIPC] to divest public pension funds from companies that penalize or limit economic involvement with Israel.
Those public pension funds hold the bulk of retirement savings for state workers, public employees and teachers. The law also requires the IIPC to blacklist the companies that won’t do business with Israel.
“These companies are removed from our investment pool just because they expressed their view of not doing business with Israel. That is a boycott, and the boycott is enshrined as First Amendment freedom that has been upheld by the Supreme Court,” said Abi-Akar.
“So we need to remove this law from Illinois and take out our investments from foreign policy influences, and make sure that we are making the most for our retiree funds.”
Abi-Akar said the law limits the ability to maximize the pension fund investments.
“We need our retiree funds to be fully invested in whatever company that is successful and exists on Wall Street, and is making money for the retiree funds. This is number one; this is Illinois first,” she said. “Number two, it is a fundamental First Amendment right.
“We cannot have this chilling effect on companies or entities that they cannot voice their objections to policies that they don’t believe in. If a country is not upholding human rights, anybody has the right to say, ‘I object to that,’ without being penalized severely and without Illinois losing hundreds of millions of dollars just to protect a foreign country.”
Abi-Akar said that while the wording of the ballot question referred to “congressional representatives,” the message is intended for General Assembly members from the area, such as state Reps. Jehan Gordon-Booth and Ryan Spain.
“We have been in contact with them, and we will continue to talk with them now that we have the voice representative of the people,” said Abi-Akar.
She notes Peoria, Kickapoo and Medina were among 13 townships throughout Illinois that supported similar advisory questions with “yes” votes ranging between 60-75%.
“So it is a resounding vote by the people in Illinois supporting this repeal of the law,” she said.
