On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, members of the State and Local Government Committee met in State House chambers for a work session and unanimously voted down LD 1383, “An Act to Require the State to Divest itself of Assets Invested in Corporations that Contribute to Genocide and Human Rights Abuses.”
The Maine Coalition for Peace and Human Rights, which includes progressive education, anti-war and migrant advocacy groups, as well as, invidisible organizers and the Maine Green Independent Party, shared that “thousands of educators have asked for their pensions to be divested from genocide and human rights abuses, over 400 local businesses and over 1000 constituents have written to the State and Local Government committee in the past few months to ask that they advance this critical legislation for the benefit of all of our commuities. Never have we seen an issue that has unified so many differenet groups.
“Divestment is not taking a stance, it is neutralizing our stance as Maine is currently supporting genocide and ICE through our state funds.” Organizers went on to share that “financial expertss have advised the council that it would be risky to maintain these corporations in our state portfolios and would be financially produent to divest from them. Legal expers advised that the bill is not only constitutional but legally, the state and its persion managers have a fiduciary obligation to mitigate the risk these corporations pose given its illegal conduct making headlines nationally.”
Bill sponsor Representative Rafael Macias of Topsham shared “Passing LD 1383 is a financial risk management and moral imperative. The bill helps our state to get ahead of market down falls within certain industries and applies to the worst crimes against humanity worldwide, including illegal detentio of our migrant neighbors at hime. MainePERS’ investment team should be paying attention. When geopolitical risk hardens into sanction risk, markets move fast. Pension systems that fail to anticipate these shifts can be left exposed.”
Over 100 constituents from many different backgkrounds testified during Public Comment held 01/21 in addition to 349 online submissions. The vast majoroty of online and in-person submissions favored passing LD 1383. Many attendees on the record during public comment alleged the commitee was biased, given the ways it atempted to silence constituents from testifying on the human rights abuses commitdted by ICE locally and showing unfair treatment to grant and Palestinian testfiers. Several members of the public noted on the record that the Committee Chair Joseph Baldacci was displaying bias in opposition to the bill through his practice of questioning and cutting off migrant speakers in favor of the bill and makine commentary in agreement with only 17 people who testified in opposition.
Meredith Dunn of Kennebec County shared that “as a retired educator my pension is important to me. It’s very concerning that I benefit from investments that I do not support. Investments in companies like Palandtir, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar that contribute to violence is something I must speak out about. As an educator and a teacher of children, we are not supposed to cause harm, but we are finding harm through our retirements; every month when I receive my check, I know that my money is harming people. We can reinvest in corporatdions that do not cause this level of violence.”
Larry Gilbert, retired law enforcement and former Mayor shared,”As someone who has come up through the ranks of the police department, was chief of Police in Lewiston, contributed to the Maine Community Policing Institute and was Mayor of the city I served for decades, I urge you to pass LD 1383. As Mayor, I worked closely with our Somali community, people who have experienced the impact of mass violation of human rights. The idea that our Maine state dollars are supporting genocide and local human rights violations goes against what we try to be in Maine. As a beneficiary of MPERS, I cerainly do not want to be profiting off of these harms.”