Recently, the Denver Post penned an editorial arguing that a bill I’ve sponsored in the Senate is bad for Colorado. This bill requires Colorado’s Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA) to create a list of companies that have a public agenda of boycotting, divesting from, or sanctioning our longtime ally Israel. The Post reasoned that, while they support Israel, the Colorado legislature should not get involved in managing the $40 billion in assets and investments maintained by PERA on behalf of Colorado retirees. However, the Denver Post failed to acknowledge the fact that it is indeed my job as State Senator and vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee to protect PERA’s stability, which more than 200,000 Coloradans depend upon.

The boycott, divest, sanction Israel movement (known as BDS) is intended to pressure Israel to compromise her current foreign and domestic policy. While this should strike you as bad foreign policy, it is certainly within the purview of free people to voluntarily join the BDS movement. Leaders within the BDS movement are calling for the boycott of companies such as Coca Cola, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar, Boeing, Pampers, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, and many more. These companies construct part of the base of the American economy because of their long-term financial stability, and the individual retirement portfolios of many Coloradans benefit from holding their stock. Those who publicly profess a desire to boycott these companies have placed political goals above financial stability and shareholder value. And thus, while private individuals have the right to speak with their wallets and add this risk to their personal portfolios, it is my duty to halt this practice before it harms our financial health. Retired public employees have worked too hard to have their pensions reduced to political games. Neither should Colorado taxpayers be on the hook to bailout potential PERA losses incurred by risky BDS-based investment decisions.

The BDS movement’s effect on you as a Colorado taxpayer is both direct and indirect. More than 200,000 Coloradans depend on PERA to provide more than $3.5 billion in retirement benefits each year. These benefits come from an invested portfolio of $44 billion, and any unreasonable risk to PERA becomes an unreasonable risk to Colorado’s public pensioners. This bill directly affects Colorado retirees by protecting their future benefits from risky investment decisions based on BDS, rather than sound economic policy. Additionally, this bill indirectly protects all current and future Colorado taxpayers, since by law it’s the taxpayers who are ultimately responsible for any unfunded future pension benefits due to investment losses within the PERA portfolio. The riskier the investments, the more likely taxpayers will have to pick up the tab in the future, and the BDS movement adds unnecessary risk to advance one particular political agenda.

My fellow bill sponsors and I have worked with PERA to ensure their staff can easily meet the bill’s requirement to avoid companies with a public agenda to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel. If needed, our State Treasurer Walker Stapleton has offered to manage the list of risky BDS companies at no cost. PERA already has a policy to avoid investments in Iran or Sudan because of the economic risk these countries pose to our public retirees, so this bill is not a new mandate. There’s no question PERA has managed these policies well, and I am confident that the protective measure in my bill will be equally well-implemented by PERA’s highly qualified and professional staff.

So while the BDS movement puts Colorado pensioners and Colorado taxpayers at risk, there are many good economic reasons to invest in Israeli companies and companies that do business with our ally. The Economist stated in 2010 that Israel, adjusted for population, “leads the world in the number of high-tech start-ups and the size of the venture capital industry.” This is the type of growth and innovation that will boost the values of Colorado’s public retirees. Through good public policy and a responsible central bank, Israel hardly blinked at the great recession that hurt so many others.

For many years, Israel’s vibrant economy and financial stability has boosted the retirements of Colorado’s public employees. The boycott, divest, and sanction movement puts a political agenda above the financial stability of Colorado’s public pension system. BDS is bad foreign policy.  BDS is even worse economic policy.  We will do our duty to ensure that BDS does not harm Colorado taxpayers.