Sec. 806.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Active business operations" means all business operations that are not inactive business operations.
(2) "Business operations" means engaging in commerce in any form in Sudan, including by acquiring, developing, maintaining, owning, selling, possessing, leasing, or operating equipment, facilities, personnel, products, services, personal property, real property, or any other apparatus of business or commerce.
(3) "Company" means a sole proprietorship, organization, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, or other entity or business association whose securities are publicly traded, including a wholly owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, parent company, or affiliate of those entities or business associations, that exists to make a profit.
(4) "Complicit" means taking actions that have directly supported or promoted the genocidal campaign in Darfur, including:
(A) preventing members of Darfur's victimized population from communicating with each other;
(B) encouraging Sudanese citizens to speak out against an internationally approved security force for Darfur; or
(C) actively working to deny, cover up, or alter the record on human rights abuses in Darfur.
(5) "Direct holdings in a company" means all securities of that company held directly by a state governmental entity in an account or fund in which a state governmental entity owns all shares or interests.
(6) "Government of Sudan" means the government in Khartoum, Sudan, which is led by the National Congress Party, formerly known as the National Islamic Front, or any successor government formed on or after October 13, 2006, including the coalition National Unity Government agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan. The term does not include the regional government of southern Sudan.
(7) "Inactive business operations" means the mere continued holding or renewal of rights to property previously operated to generate revenue but not presently deployed to generate revenue.
(8) "Indirect holdings in a company" means all securities of that company held in an account or fund, such as a mutual fund, managed by one or more persons not employed by a state governmental entity, in which the state governmental entity owns shares or interests together with other investors not subject to this chapter. The term does not include money invested under a plan described by Section 401(k) or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(9) "Listed company" means a company listed by the comptroller under Section 806.051.
(10) "Marginalized populations of Sudan" includes:
(A) the portion of the population in the Darfur region that has been genocidally victimized;
(B) the portion of the population of southern Sudan victimized by Sudan's North-South civil war;
(C) the Beja, Rashidiya, and other similarly underserved groups of eastern Sudan;
(D) the Nubian and other similarly underserved groups in Sudan's Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and Nuba Mountain regions; and
(E) the Amri, Hamadab, Manasir, and other similarly underserved groups of northern Sudan.
(11) "Military equipment" means weapons, arms, military supplies, and equipment that readily may be used for military purposes, including radar systems or military-grade transport vehicles or supplies or services sold or provided directly or indirectly to any force actively participating in armed conflict in Sudan.
(12) "Mineral extraction activities" includes exploring, extracting, processing, transporting, or wholesale selling or trading of elemental minerals or associated metal alloys or oxides (ore), including gold, copper, chromium, chromite, diamonds, iron, iron ore, silver, tungsten, uranium, and zinc, as well as facilitating those activities, including by providing supplies or services in support of those activities.
(13) "Oil-related activities" includes:
(A) owning rights to oil blocks;
(B) exporting, extracting, producing, refining, processing, exploring for, transporting, selling, or trading of oil;
(C) constructing, maintaining, or operating a pipeline, refinery, or other oil-field infrastructure; or
(D) facilitating oil-related activities, including by providing supplies or services in support of the activities, except that the mere retail sale of gasoline and related consumer products is not an oil-related activity.
(14) "Power production activities" means any business operation that involves a project commissioned by the National Electricity Corporation of Sudan or another similar Government of Sudan entity whose purpose is to facilitate power generation and delivery, including establishing power-generating plants or hydroelectric dams, selling or installing components for the project, and providing service contracts related to the installation or maintenance of the project, as well as facilitating those activities, including by providing supplies or services in support of those activities.
(15) "Scrutinized company" means a company that:
(A) engages in scrutinized business operations described by Section 806.002; or
(B) has been complicit in the Darfur genocide during any preceding 20-month period.
(16) "Social development company" means a company whose primary purpose in Sudan is to provide humanitarian goods or services, including medicine or medical equipment, agricultural supplies or infrastructure, educational opportunities, journalism-related activities, information or information materials, spiritual-related activities, services of a purely clerical or reporting nature, food, clothing, or general consumer goods that are unrelated to oil-related activities, mineral extraction activities, or power production activities.
(17) "State governmental entity" means the Employees Retirement System of Texas or the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
(18) "Substantial action" means adopting, publicizing, and implementing a formal plan to cease scrutinized business operations within one year and to refrain from any such new business operations, undertaking significant humanitarian efforts on behalf of one or more marginalized populations of Sudan, or, through engagement with the Government of Sudan, materially improving conditions for the genocidally victimized population in Darfur.
Added by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1375 (S.B. 247), Sec. 2, eff. January 1, 2008.
Section: 806.001 806.002 806.003 806.004 806.005 806.006 806.007 806.051 806.052 806.053 806.054 806.055 806.056 806.057 806.058 NextLast modified: September 28, 2016