OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER STEVE NOVICK

1221 SW 4th Ave. Suite 210

Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: 503-823-4682
Fax: (503)-823-4019
novick @portlandoregon.gov

CITY OF
PORTLAND, OREGON
OFFICE OF PUBLIC SAFETY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City of Portland Begins Rollback of Investments in Wal-Mart

PORTLAND, OR (May 15, 2014) The City of Portland reached a milestone as the first of five
holdings in city-owned Wal-Mart bonds will mature, reducing the Citys direct investment in the
company by 25 percent. This is the first time a Wal-Mart investment will matureand thus leave
the portfoliosince the Portland City Council adopted socially responsible investment principles
in October 2013.

Introduced by Commissioner Novick, the City Councils resolution prohibits the City Treasurer
from making any new Wal-Mart purchases. This means that as the existing bonds held by the
City mature, its investment in Wal-Mart will discontinue. The last of the Citys Wal-Mart bonds
will mature in April 2016, at which point the City will have eliminated a total of $36 million
invested in the company as of October 2013.

Commissioner Novick will be available to discuss and take questions about this issue at a press
conference on Thursday, May 15 at 11AM in front of City Hall. He will be joined by
representatives from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the OUR Wal-Mart
campaign, and Pastor Tara Wilkins from the Community of Welcoming Congregations.

In addition to prohibiting the purchase of additional Wal-Mart bonds, the City Councils
resolution created a temporary committee charged with advising Council about how to
implement its socially responsible investment principles. The committee will report back to
Council later this year. The principles adopted by Council include health and environmental
concerns, abusive labor practices, and corrupt corporate ethic and governance, among others.

From what I can tell, no other U.S. city has looked at socially responsible investing in quite the
same way as Portland, said Commissioner Novick.

He added, Im hopeful other cities and states take note and adopt similar investment principles
to hold companies accountable and align our investment policies with our values.

The City of Portlands entire investment portfolio ranges from $940 million to $1.29 billion and
averages about $1.08 billion during the year. In Fiscal Year 2013, the Citys investment portfolio
generated about $4.3 million in earnings, which were distributed to all City funds. Until today,
Wal-Mart holdings were about 2.9% of the Citys investment portfolio.

A companys policies and practices have a direct impact on families and individuals living and
working in Portland, said UFCW representative Bob Marshall. A citys investments should
reflect the values of its taxpayers, and Wal-Mart is consistently out of step of Portland values.

Under the resolution passed last October, Council must extend the Do Not Buy list prohibiting
any new investments in Wal-Mart by the close of 2014. Commissioner Novick plans to bring a
resolution to extend the policy.

Additionally, the resolution passed last fall requires the temporary advisory committee to
conclude its work by July 31, 2014. Commissioner Novick looks forward to reviewing the
committees recommendation and bringing to Council the committees report as well as proposal
for a permanent process to implement the principles for socially responsible investment.

Contact: Chris Warner
Phone: 503-823-4682
Email: chris.warner@portlandoregon.gov


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