Pittsburgh City Council advances legislation to stop proposed anti-Israel referendum
Political chessPublic hearing to be held Feb. 3

Pittsburgh City Council advances legislation to stop proposed anti-Israel referendum

If passed, the council’s ordinances would add two referendum questions to the May ballot.

Pittsburgh's City-County building (Photo by Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Pittsburgh's City-County building (Photo by Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Pittsburgh City Council has advanced two pieces of legislation meant to prevent referendums like the one proposed by Not On Our Dime, which is attempting to force the city to divest from Israel and companies that do business with the Jewish state.

If passed, the council’s ordinances would add two referendum questions to the May ballot.

The first would prohibit “the discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin or association or affiliation with any nation or foreign state in conducting business of the city.”

Councilperson Erika Strassburger, District 8, amended the proposal to include ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, disability and place of birth to the list of protected classes, saying the amendment would make the question more closely match the city’s existing nondiscrimination policies.

The second referendum would prohibit the “Home Rule Charter Amendment process to add duties or obligations beyond the lawful scope of the city’s authority.”

Both pieces of legislation were voted out of the Finance and Law Committee on Jan. 29 and were co-sponsored by Strassburger and Councilmembers Bob Charland, District 3, Anthony Coghill, District 4, Daniel Lovelle, District 6 and Bobby Wilson, District 1.

The first ordinance was approved by unanimous vote; the second by six votes, with three abstentions: Deb Gross, Khari Mosley and Barb Warwick, whose district includes Squirrel Hill.

If approved, the ordinances would move to the mayor’s desk for signature.

Not On Our Dime’s proposed referendum, which the organization also is attempting to have added to the May ballot by gathering more than 12,500 signatures from city residents, seeks to amend the Home Rule Charter to establish “a financial policy to divert funds from governments engaged in genocide and apartheid — such as the state of Israel and corporations doing business with them”; implement “investment policies with goals to reduce arms production and promote human dignity”; and “increase “transparency of City business relationships and investments.”

Strassburger said that the council’s referendum questions were needed because Not On Our Dime’s referendum would “hamstring the city so much that we wouldn’t be able to accomplish much at all.” Pittsburgh, she noted, does business with a vast number of global entities, including Israel and China.

Additionally, she said, the Not On Our Dime referendum “directly contradicts the sort of prohibition against boycotts and sanctions that exist at the state level, not to mention potential conflict with federal law and the Constitution.”

In an interview with the Chronicle, Not On Our Dime leader Ben Case said the organization wants more transparency about how citizens’ tax dollars are spent, “specifically concerning foreign governments that are engaged in certain types of morally reprehensible behavior. To the degree possible, we don’t want our public money going toward governments that are engaging in behaviors like genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Case said that he didn’t see a conflict between the council’s ballot questions and Not On Our Dimes’ efforts, something organizers with the group echoed during the public comments section of the council’s recent meeting.

The Not On Our Dime referendum is endorsed by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Pittsburgh chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, among others.

Posts on Not On Our Dime’s Instagram feed have accused Israel of both apartheid and genocide but makes no mention of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack which prompted Israel’s response in Gaza.

The organization attempted to have a similar referendum added to the October 2024 ballot but withdrew it after challenges by both the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and City Controller Rachael Heisler.

A public hearing on the council’s proposals is scheduled for Feb. 3 at 1:30 p.m. Those who preregister with the county clerk to speak, in-person or on Zoom, will be allowed three minutes. Those who don’t preregister will be allowed to comment for one minute, in person.

Strassburger said another piece of legislation will first have a public hearing at the meeting and that the referendums’ hearing most likely won’t take place until around 2 p.m.

A final vote scheduled is for Feb. 4. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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