In their joint letter, California Assemblymen Mike Feuer and Bob Blumenfield asked Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, “to consider becoming part of a national network asserting financial pressure to stop Iran’s nuclear ambition by advancing legislation similar to the California Contracting Act of 2010.”
The law, Feuer and Blumenfield said prohibits companies with significant business interest in Iran’s petroleum sector from doing business with state and local governments.
Manglona, who was with the other senators on Rota for a public hearing, said he had yet to read the letter so he could not comment on it last Friday.
Feuer and Blumenfield, who authored Assembly Bill 1650 that is now a state law, told Manglona that the measure “builds on the federal sanctions on the government of Iran imposed by Congress and which President Obama strengthened on July 1, 2010 by enacting Public Law 111-195.”
“While toughening U.S. sanctions on Iran, the new federal law also expressly authorizes state and local governments to divest and otherwise disassociate themselves from companies operating in Iran’s energy sector,” Feuer and Blumentfield said.
They noted that California’s law has caused companies to sever ties and end business operations in Iran’s energy sector.
They said that as more states enact such type of legislation, there will be “increasing incentives” for businesses to withdraw from Iran’s energy market.
“It is our belief that these efforts will help curb the nuclear proliferation threat from that country. We respectfully urge your consideration of such a law for your state. A copy of the legislation is enclosed for your reference,” the California lawmakers told Manglona.
