The State Board of Finance on Wednesday adopted policies designed to help the treasurer's office avoid investments in companies or organizations linked to terrorist groups and nations involved in such activities.
The proposal was brought to the board by Treasurer Kate Marshall, who said until this point Nevada has had no policies regarding such investments. Senior Deputy Treasurer Mark Winebarger told the board the new policy would have the state make periodic reviews of its investments to see if any of them show up on watch lists prepared by the federal government. If any do, they would be reviewed to see whether the state should divest from that particular stock or bond.
A similar policy was put in place to review state investments if their rating changes for the worse. Winebarger said the state is supposed to invest only in AAA organizations and would review any investment that drops below that to determine whether it would be wise to move the state's money somewhere else.
Gov. Jim Gibbons, as chairman of the finance board, asked that any such investments in either group be listed for the board in the treasurer's period reports to them.