| An Ordinance for Communities
An Ordinance An Ordinance of the City of XXXX [amending and supplementing City Ordinance XXXXX]. WHEREAS, the citizens of XXXX and the City of XXXX are desirous of supporting honesty in government, the scrupulous and ethical use of taxpayer revenues and policies that hold corporations to the highest standards of ethics and accountability; WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of XXXX and their local elected officials have the constitutional right to petition the national and state governments on any matter of grave concern to our city, the nation, and the world community; and WHEREAS, more than 200 billion dollars has been appropriated by Congress to fund military operations and reconstruction in Iraq; and WHEREAS, the cost of the Iraq war has diverted federal funds from programs and services in urban areas such as XXXX, including education, housing, social services, infrastructure improvements, and homeland security; and WHEREAS, numerous audits, reports and investigations by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Government Accountability Office, various committees of Congress and the media have documented a variety of lawbreaking activities by corporate contractors operating in Iraq or their employees, including fraud, waste, bribery and other egregious abuses; and WHEREAS, many of the U.S. government's largest contractors have repeatedly broken the law or engaged in misconduct, according to investigations by the GAO (GAO-03-163) and non-profit contracting watchdogs such as the Project on Government Oversight, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Center for Public Integrity; WHEREAS, very few such contractors have been prevented from receiving additional government contracts as a result of any violations of law, exposing taxpayers and the government to the greater potential for fraud, waste and other harms; WHEREAS, the provision of defective equipment and services has the potential to put the lives of U.S. servicemen and women in danger; WHEREAS, the federal government's own laws and regulations require that contractors who break the law or are even indicted should be prevented from receiving any additional contracts, at least for a temporary period; and yet WHEREAS, in practice, small businesses are frequently barred from contracts while larger, more politically-influential companies continue to rake in massive contracts, in some cases no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars, NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF XXXXX, XXXX (STATE). Section 1: That the City of XXXX hereby adopts a policy, effective within 180 days, altering [CITY PROCUREMENT LAWS] in a manner that prohibits the any new business within its jurisdiction with companies that have (or whose employees have) committed any major violations of Federal Acquisition Regulations or state or local procurement rules including competitive bidding rules, or committed contract-related fraud, bribery, or billing with the intent to excessively profit from any war, military action or disaster relief operations ("war profiteers" or "disaster profiteers") over a period of five years previous to the award of such business. Section 2. That the City of XXXX hereby strongly urges the United States government and the State of XXXX to enforce and establish where necessary stronger criminal penalties for contract-related fraud, including billing with the intent to excessively profit from any war, military action or disaster-related contracts ("war profiteering" or "disaster profiteering"), including clear standards of suspension and debarment for fraud, profiteering or other wrongdoing. Section 3: That the City of XXXX shall divest itself of and direct any and all fund managers for its employee retirement funds and other funds controlled by the city of any and all stocks, bonds or other financial instruments associated with any company which has either broken the law in association with federal war- or disaster relief-related contracts over the past 5 years. Section 4: That a copy of this resolution be sent to George W. Bush, President of the United States; the members of the XXXXX (state) Congressional delegation; and the National League of Cities. Section 5: That this resolution shall be in full force and effect from 180 days after its passage and approval in the manner provided by law. (Signed)
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