UANI Urges New York Assembly and Senate to Pass Iran Debarment Legislation

October 26, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 26, 2011

Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]

Phone: (212) 554-3296

     

UANI Urges New York Assembly and Senate to Pass Iran Debarment Legislation

Bill to be Introduced Tomorrow by Assembly Speaker Silver

 

New York, NY - On Wednesday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on members of New York's State Legislature to enact legislation, to be introduced tomorrow by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, barring companies that do business in Iran's energy sector from receiving contracts from the State of New York.

 

This year, UANI wrote to Speaker Silver and others, urging him to adapt UANI model legislation, and prevent companies that do business in Iran from receiving New York state tax dollars. Speaker Silver will be introducing such legislation tomorrow.

 

Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, who in August wrote the Op-Ed "Time Has Come for States to Take Strong Action on Iran":

 

UANI applauds Speaker Silver for introducing contract debarment legislation, and we urge New York's legislature to pass it quickly. New York can join California and Florida in pressuring multinational companies to end their business in Iran.  

 

By forcing corporations to choose between the U.S. and Iran, states and municipalities can send a unified message to the Iranian regime that the American people will not stand by as Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons, kill U.S. soldiers on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, sponsor terrorists around the world, and plot attacks on U.S. soil.

 

California and Florida have already passed Iran debarment legislation, adapted from UANI model legislation. UANI unveiled the "Iran Business Certification Act" in June 2009, which shortly thereafter was introduced in U.S. Congress as the "Accountability for Business Choices in Iran Act."

 

As the Financial Times reported this year, California has been enforcing its law, the 2010 Iran Contracting Act, and has succeeded in pressuring several multinational corporations to end their business in Iran. Recently, the State of California published a list of companies now prohibited from doing business with California due to their work in Iran.

 

Click here to visit UANI's model legislation home page.

Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's Op-Ed, "Time Has Come for States to Take Strong Action on Iran."

 

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