Title
An Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending and supplementing the Allegheny County Code of Ordinances, through the creation of a new Chapter 492, entitled "Contract Policy," in order to establish a County policy for contracting with companies doing business with state sponsors of terrorism.
Body
WHEREAS, in 2001, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission determined that companies with business operations in terrorist-sponsoring states are exposed to a special risk category known as Global Security Risk, which is the risk to share value and corporate reputation stemming from the intersection of a publicly traded company's international business activities and security-related concerns, such as terrorism and weapons proliferation; and
WHEREAS, in response to the financial risk posed by investments in companies doing business with a state that sponsors terrorists, the Securities and Exchange Commission
established its Office of Global Security Risk to provide for enhanced disclosure of material information regarding such companies; and
WHEREAS, according to a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fact that a foreign company is doing material business with a country, government or entity on the Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC) sanctions list is, in the Securities and Exchange Commission staff's view, substantially likely to be significant to a reasonable
investor's decision about whether to invest in that company; and
WHEREAS, a 2006 report by the United States House of Representatives states that "a company's association with sponsors of terrorism and human rights abuses, no matter how
large or small, can have a materially adverse result on a public company's activities, financial condition, earnings, and stock prices, all of which can negatively affect the value of an investment;" and
WHEREAS, on July 23, 2004, the United States Congress declared that "t...
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