Illinois has millions in investments tied to Russia. A lawmaker wants to cut them off.
Illinois would cut millions of dollars in state and local investments with ties to Russia under a measure introduced last week in the legislature.
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said if the holdings amount to a penny, “it’s too much,” and empowers Russian President Vladimir Putin in his invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s a move of a dictator and it is a threat to democracy across the world, particularly in Europe,” Hoffman said. “We shouldn’t be allowing be allowing Russia or any of the corporations in Russia to be utilizing our investment dollars.”
Hoffman called on the legislature to pass the resolution (HR 0711), which asks the State Board of Investments and local public retirement systems to find and cut any investments linked to Russia.
The state investment board manages five state retirement systems with more than 167,000 beneficiaries and $24.7 billion in assets, according to its website.
The board’s portfolio contains less than $50 million in assets that would be divested, or cut off, said Jeff Houch, a policy adviser for the State Employees Retirement System.
Across the state, it’s not clear how much in assets public retirement funds have with ties to Russia. They make investments across the world, and so “there’s no central location that indicates where all of these funds are,” Hoffman said, but fund managers should be able to find and eliminate them.
Hoffman said House lawmakers could approve the legislation within the next week.
