The mailing says the divestment movement won a major victory in June when the House passed the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, Representative Ron Dellums' comprehensive sanctions bill. The mailing says following the House action, the Republican controlled Senate in August passed a weaker selective sanctions bill; a House/Senate conference committee is scheduled for September and member of Congress must be pressed to ensure that committee adopts the strong measures passed by the House. The mailing says the conference committee is also the last chance to defeat an effort by some Senators to make national anti-apartheid legislation preempt state and local anti-apartheid initiatives; if successful,...
The mailing says the divestment movement won a major victory in June when the House passed the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, Representative Ron Dellums' comprehensive sanctions bill. The mailing says following the House action, the Republican controlled Senate in August passed a weaker selective sanctions bill; a House/Senate conference committee is scheduled for September and member of Congress must be pressed to ensure that committee adopts the strong measures passed by the House. The mailing says the conference committee is also the last chance to defeat an effort by some Senators to make national anti-apartheid legislation preempt state and local anti-apartheid initiatives; if successful, federal preemption would invalidate divestment measurers passed by cities and state around the country and force them to be stricken from the books. The mailings says although this preemption attempt has not attracted much attention, it could strike a body blow to the divestment movement; what's more, because this is an election year Congress only reconvenes for the month of September and then closes down for the year, so there isn't much time to act; I am writing to urge you to immediately take up this issue and press your Senators and Congressional Representative to fight the preemption effort. The mailing says the arguments surrounding the preemption question are complex, but our lawyers tell us that they can be effectively countered by inserting language into the report the House/Senate conference committee will draw up in September; that report must make clear that the intent of this legislation is not to preempt state and local anti-apartheid iniatives, but rather to spell out what the Federal government feels compelled to do in the face of the ever-escalating violence and repression of apartheid. The mailing says legislators in both chambers of congress must be contacted and urged to impress upon those members who will sit on the conference committee that the report of the committee must be unambiguous in its intent not to preempt existing or future state and city statues. The mailing includes CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ACTION LOCAL DIVESTMENT LEGISLATION THREATENED. The mailing discusses S. 2701, Senator Richard Lugar, Senator D'Amato, Senator Moynihan, HR 4868, and investment in and trade with South Africa.
