Resolves of the Executive Council

Resolved, That the Executive Council, meeting in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, from January 27 to January 30, 2003, instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions substantially the same to those approved by Council for filing or affirmative proxy votes during the present triennium. These resolutions cover the following areas:

Environment: endorse the CERES Principles, creation of a global warming report, disclose costs of delay of cleaning up PCBs in the Hudson River, adoption of a non-toxic chemicals policy, phase out the use of chlorinated paper, report on the effects of drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, report on the use of renewable energy sources, invest resources to build new electrical generation from solar and wind power sources, adopt a policy and auditing progress of producer responsibility for their products, adopt a comprehensive recycling strategy, report on the environmental and social impacts of development

Equality: adopt policies on board diversity, issue of an EEO-1 report, implement the MacBride Principles on equal employment opportunity in Northern Ireland, issue a Glass Ceiling report on efforts to remove impediments to the career advancement of women and people of color, report on efforts to identify and disassociate from any imagery offensive to the American Indian community in products or advertising, amend written equal employment opportunity policies to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation

Global corporate accountability: create either contract supplier standards or global human rights standards for a company’s operations (including the use of forced or child labor), implement and/or increase activity on a set of principles designed to increase rights for workers in the People's Republic of China

Fair lending: report on policies to prevent predatory lending, develop policies on money laundering

International health: develop and implement a policy to provide pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria in ways that the majority of infected persons in African nations can afford, adopt a policy of phasing out the use of mercury-containing devices by hospital companies

Militarism: report on military offsets, not bid on contracts or produce components of nuclear weapons or their delivery systems and take steps to disengage from current or proposed contracts for the production or maintenance of such products, weaponization of space, report on foreign military sales, report on offsets for military contracts; and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking companies to issue reports using the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (although there is no resolution specifically dealing with the Global Reporting Initiative, support is based on the church’s long-standing support for the CERES Principles (EC-11/93) and General Convention resolution A002 of 2000; both resolutions address the kinds of issues that are germane to the subject of such a report) (Att. 1); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions requesting the Board of Directors to prepare at reasonable expense sustainability reports (although there is no resolution specifically dealing with the Global Reporting Initiative, support is based on the church’s long-standing support for the CERES Principles (EC-11/93) and General Convention resolution A002 of 2000; both resolutions address the kinds of issues that are germane to the subject of such a report) (Att. 2); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking companies to develop policies to consolidate on their balance sheets any structured finance transactions which essentially serve the purposes of loans, such as material financings, and to require clients to do likewise (although there is no specific policy support for this resolution, the Episcopal Church has long supported and filed resolutions regarding fairness and disclosure in the finance industry) (Att. 3); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking companies to develop ethical criteria for the extension of patents on prescription drugs and to issue reports on the implications of such criteria (although there is no specific policy regarding this resolution, a variety of statements regarding access to health care would be consistent with this resolution; see General Convention resolution A010 of 1991 on the right of all individuals to health care) (Att. 4); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking companies to issue reports disclosing the extent and types of payments/incentives/rebates to doctors, pharmacy benefit managers and other pharmaceutical purchasers made in order to influence the selection of a particular drug (although there is no specific policy regarding this resolution, a variety of statements regarding access to health care would be consistent with this resolution; see General Convention resolution A010 of 1991 on the right of all individuals to health care) (Att. 5); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking insurance companies to initiate policies mandating no further purchases of tobacco equities in any of their portfolios unless it can be proven that tobacco use does not cause the illnesses and deaths that have been attributed to it (based on the Executive Council resolution of 6/90 disinvesting the Episcopal Church from the tobacco industry and the Church’s previous filing of such resolutions) (Att. 6); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in favor of all resolutions asking health maintenance organizations to initiate policies mandating no further purchases of tobacco equities in any of their portfolios unless it can be proven that tobacco use does not cause the illnesses and deaths that have been attributed to it (based on the Executive Council resolution of 6/90 disinvesting the Episcopal Church from the tobacco industry and the Church’s previous filing of such resolutions) (Att. 7); and be it further

Resolved, That the Council instruct the Treasurer to vote in abstention on all resolutions for which such a vote was approved by Council previously in the present triennium. These resolutions address the following topics: (1) reporting on, not marketing or distributing, or phasing out the use of genetically-modified foods, and (2) assessing the company’s role in nuclear power.