New York State Will Not Do Business With Iran

The Assembly passed legislation today (A.6855) I sponsored that builds upon last year’s Iran Divestment Act to protect New Yorkers from unknowingly investing in Iran (Ch. 1 of 2012). The Iran Divestment Act prohibits New York State from conducting business with companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector. However, a loophole exists concerning domestic insurance companies that may have – in their portfolios – shares in foreign entities that do business with Iran. This means unsuspecting New Yorkers could purchase insurance policies without knowing the companies’ business ties to Iran. The Assembly’s legislation will ban domestic insurance companies that invest in foreign companies with ties to Iran’s energy sector from including those investments as an admitted asset – which are assets used when measuring a company’s solvency. That means insurance companies could not succeed by relying on large investments in entities that do business with Iran. Our legislation sends a strong message that New York will not support a terrorist nation working to obtain nuclear weapons. We will pass law after law to stop Iran – a nation that wishes to do us, and others, harm – from its pursuit of terror.