Indiana Senate leader wants to pull state's pension funds out of China

A Southern Indiana lawmaker wants to see his state pulls its money out of China.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, filed Senate Bill 268, which would bar the Indiana Public Retirement System from investing in companies known to be controlled by either the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party.

Garten gave a list of investments INPRS has made in China. Not only do those investments increase financial risk, but he added they also help promote human rights abuses in the country.

He added that some of the taxpayers in his district were stunned to learn pension funds were going to companies associated with China’s ruling party.

“Addressing Americans’ involvement with the Chinese Communist Party is an issue of national security that continues to garner state and national bipartisan support,” Garten said. “It is important to protect Indiana’s economic foundation and Hoosiers by ensuring their hard-earned money is being kept close to home instead of in the hands of adversarial states.”

According to the fiscal note attached to SB 268, the state’s pension system had slightly more than $1 billion in defined assets tied to investments in China. That accounts for roughly 2.5% of the system’s assets. Another $63.4 million was tied to investment funds that included Chinese equities.

The fiscal note also pointed out the state already abides by federal executive orders that bar investments in Chinese military and surveillance companies.

If it passes, the state would have five years to withdraw from its Chinese investments.

Garten’s bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Pensions and Labor last week and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.

“It is time for the Indiana General Assembly to take a stand on this issue that impacts not only Hoosiers but all Americans,” the senate leader said.

According to the system’s annual report for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2022, the system had more than 517,000 members across all of its plans.

More than 1,300 employers are part of the pension system, with school districts accounting for 30% of those organizations.

The state’s pension fund had a total market value of $42.4 billion through the last fiscal year.