California Advances Contentious $15 Billion Oil Divestment Plan

A California state legislative committee approved Tuesday a measure that would divest an estimated $15 billion from oil and gas companies from the portfolios of two massive state-sponsored pension funds, despite opposition from the officials who oversee the investments.

Representatives from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) warned lawmakers that dropping those investments could jeopardize the systems’ ability to fully fund retiree pensions. Those pleas didn’t sway members of the California Senate Judiciary Committee, whose members voted 8-2 to approve and advance state Sen. Lena Gonzalez’s bill (SB 252) ...