Gov. Gavin Newsom called on leaders of California's public pension systems on Tuesday to re-evaluate their investments in Russia.
The state's Public Employees' Retirement System and State Teachers' Retirement System, along with the University of California Retirement Retirement Plan, have investments funds worth a combined $970 billion.
They together hold more than $1.5 billion in investments in Russian stocks, private equity holdings, real estate, debt and other investments, Newsom said in a letter to the three chairpersons of the pension systems' boards of directors.
"Russia's brazen and lawless military assault on Ukraine demands our support for the Ukrainian people and exacting an immediate and severe cost upon the Russian government in response to its continuing aggression," Newsom said in the letter.
Newsom's office clarified that he was not urging the pension funds to sell all their holdings. His letter specified that he wants the funds not to purchase Russian debt, and that "no money shall flow from the state of California to Russia."
The retirement systems typically oppose blanket divestment proposals, but have been forced to do so through legislation in the past.
On Monday, after a group of state legislators announced they would introduce a bill to force divestment from Russia holdings, CalPERS board President Theresa Taylor said CalPERS' Russian investments are half in public equities and half in private equity.
Taylor said that while she was "personally appalled at Russia's actions," sanctions prevented the immediate sale of the system's public assets in Russia, adding the system's directors would have to weigh the affordability of getting rid of its private assets in the country.
Newsom asked the three chairpersons to advise him of the steps they're taking within 10 days.
Some nations, states and companies moved to divest from Russian companies over the weekend following the invasion of Ukraine — an action that the Ukraine government explicitly endorsed.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order Sunday telling state agencies to divest. The country of Norway said on Sunday that its sovereign fund would divest. Energy giant BP said Sunday it would quit its $25 billion stake in a large Russian oil company, Rosneft. Shell said it would follow suit, dumping its $3 billion stake in state-owned oil company Gazprom and backing out of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which Germany put on hold as the invasion began.
