SALT LAKE CITY -- Two state lawmakers want the state's $20 billion retirement fund to divest in firms that do business in Iran and the Sudan because they said it is the ethical thing to do.

Fisher's bill applies only to foreign firms, while Litvack's includes domestic and foreign firms.

Fisher said that the state system should not be investing in a country that supports terrorism, especially against American troops in the Middle East.

"It really bothers me that we are sending our sons and daughters over to Iraq to fight for our freedom when our own state retirement system may be investing in (Iran), the very economy that is trying to destroy us," she said.

Litvack said the purpose behind the bill he's drafting is to put investment pressure on the Sudanese government to stop genocide in Darfur.

"It targets the worst offending companies," Litvack said. "We're really going after those that are contributing to the genocide."

These bills reflect a growing trend in financial circles for "socially responsible investments," said Dan Andersen, staff counsel for the Utah Retirement System.

But it could also cost the public retirement systems a lot of money through additional consulting costs and potential lost profits, while showing little benefit to the original causes, he said.

The bills, he said, should be rejected because they are "ineffective, costly, burdensome, inefficient, fraught with legal problems and (could well) violate the principles of federalism."

Nationally, 22 states have Sudan divestment policies, and 15 of those are the same as Litvack's proposal, said Max Croes, advocacy associate for the Sudan Divestment Task Force, based in Washington, D.C.