On Nov. 5 the Budget & Public Employees Committee passed Resolution 136 with a do‑pass recommendation, a nonbinding measure urging the Board of Trustees of the Employees Retirement System to ensure city retirement investments are not held in companies identified by the American Friends Service Committee as complicit in human‑rights abuses.

Sponsor Alderman Aldridge framed the resolution as aligning the city’s investments with statements the Board of Aldermen made in January 2024 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Dozens of residents, local organizers and representatives of groups such as Not Another Nickel, ArchCity Defenders, the Micah Project, Jewish Voice for Peace and migrant‑rights organizations testified in favor of divestment, citing civilian casualties in Gaza, links between vendors and surveillance or policing tools used locally, and the precedent of divestment sanctions used against apartheid South Africa.

Public commenters urged the committee to act quickly and called divestment a moral imperative; speakers also argued the companies identified make up a small share of the retirement portfolio and that removal would not endanger pension performance. Supporters described local ties — including ship building, defense manufacturing and data‑surveillance contracts — and said divestment would send a city policy signal while trustees review holdings.

The committee recorded a roll‑call vote (3 aye, 1 no) and moved the resolution to the full Board of Aldermen with a do‑pass recommendation. The measure asks the trustees to review and ensure no holdings are “complicit” as defined by the American Friends Service Committee guidance and asks the clerk to distribute the adoptive resolution to appropriate trustees and stakeholders. The resolution is advisory; any actual changes to pension holdings would be executed by the retirement board according to fiduciary law.