RISE Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1460 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for an investment option under the Thrift Savings Plan that does not include investment in any fossil fuel companies. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 14, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for an investment option under the Thrift Savings Plan that does not include investment in any fossil fuel companies. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retirement Invest- 4 ments for a Sustainable Economy Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘RISE Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7 It is the sense of Congress that— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1460 IS (1) continued inaction by the Federal Govern- 1 ment with respect to addressing climate change 2 poses a significant threat to the growth and stability 3 of the economy and population of the United States; 4 (2) pension and retirement funds are vulnerable 5 to distinct risks relating to climate change, includ- 6 ing— 7 (A) climate impact risks, including sea 8 level rise, heat waves, desertification, ocean aci- 9 dification, flooding, drought, extreme weather, 10 and wildfires; 11 (B) carbon-constrained demand risks, in- 12 cluding stranded carbon assets, which financial 13 institutions have estimated as having a value of 14 $100,000,000,000,000; and 15 (C) climate liability risks, including from 16 evolving interpretations of fiduciary and tor- 17 tious duties of care; and 18 (3) assessing the potential impact of climate-re- 19 lated risks on national and international financial 20 systems, including retirement savings accounts and 21 pensions, is an urgent concern. 22 SEC. 3. CLIMATE CHOICE STOCK INDEX FUND. 23 Section 8438 of title 5, United States Code, is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1460 IS (1) in subsection (a)— 1 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (4) 2 through (10) as paragraphs (7) through (13), 3 respectively; 4 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), 5 and (3) as paragraphs (2), (4), and (5), respec- 6 tively; 7 (C) by inserting before paragraph (2), as 8 so redesignated, the following: 9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Climate Choice Stock Index 10 Fund’ means the Climate Choice Stock Index Fund 11 established under subsection (b)(1)(G);’’; 12 (D) by inserting after paragraph (2), as so 13 redesignated, the following: 14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘entity’ means any sole propri- 15 etorship, organization, association, corporation, part- 16 nership, joint venture, limited partnership, limited li- 17 ability partnership, limited liability company, or 18 other business association, including any wholly 19 owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, par- 20 ent-country national, or affiliate of the business as- 21 sociation, that exists for the purpose of making prof- 22 it;’’; and 23 (E) by inserting after paragraph (5), as so 24 redesignated, the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1460 IS ‘‘(6) the term ‘fossil fuel entity’ means any en- 1 tity— 2 ‘‘(A) with proven carbon reserves; or 3 ‘‘(B) that explores for, extracts, processes, 4 refines, or transmits coal, oil, gas, oil shale, or 5 tar sands;’’; and 6 (2) in subsection (b)— 7 (A) in paragraph (1)— 8 (i) in subparagraph (E), by striking 9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 10 (ii) in subparagraph (F), by striking 11 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 12 and’’; and 13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(G) a Climate Choice Stock Index Fund 16 as provided in paragraph (6).’’; and 17 (B) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(6)(A) The Board shall select an index which 19 is a commonly recognized index comprised of com- 20 mon stock. 21 ‘‘(B) The historical performance of the index 22 selected under subparagraph (A) shall be comparable 23 to that of the other investment funds and options 24 available under this subsection. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1460 IS ‘‘(C) The Climate Choice Stock Index Fund 1 shall be invested in a portfolio that is designed— 2 ‘‘(i) to replicate the performance of the 3 index selected under subparagraph (A); 4 ‘‘(ii) such that, to the extent practicable, 5 the percentage of the Climate Choice Stock 6 Index Fund that is invested in each stock is the 7 same as the percentage determined by dividing 8 the aggregate market value of all shares of that 9 stock by the aggregate market value of all 10 shares of all stocks included in the index se- 11 lected under subparagraph (A); and 12 ‘‘(iii) to ensure that no investment in the 13 portfolio is an investment with respect to a fos- 14 sil fuel entity.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1460.IS S1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS