Retirement funds to be pulled out of Russia

I wonder if Putin over there is starting to realise yet that things are getting serious now for his country's homophobia? So far the protests have been largely symbolic, knee jerk actions that people do because they feel like they have to do something to bring the situation to light in the west. Now it's looking like the west is starting on a more permanent form of action that will surely at least raise a few eyebrows in Russia. Already Coke is being targeted as a sponsor of Sochi, which I'd expect they'd be keeping a very good eye on to see where this issue goes. Now there's something in the wings that goes even further. 

This to me, if it gets passed (very likely by the looks) I'd call it almost an economic sanction. It's not coming from any federal gov, but from the US state of California, which has one of the biggest economies in the world in it's own right. They are planning to de-invest the states public service retirement funds out of Russia. These funds are worth a mint, and include not only public servants but teachers as well. The biggest fund has $1.4 billion invested in Russia at the moment. It looks like it's very willing to pull the plug on Russia:

‘As the host of international events, including the Winter Olympics and the Miss Universe Pageant, it is unacceptable that Russia promote discrimination against people based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity. California joins the worldwide outrage against these new laws and is in a unique position as one of the largest economies to make a strong statement that we will not tolerate nor invest in blatant violations of human rights.’ 

CalPERS, the largest employee pension system in the US, has $266 billion invested globally, of which $1.4 billion is currently invested in Russia. 

Earlier this month in response to Leno moving his resolution CalPERS said it would factor in human rights issues in how it invested. 

‘CalPERS is a strong defender of human and civil rights across the globe,’ the fund said in statement. 

‘CalPERS will continue its prudent review of all investments and will consider current developments as it abides by all applicable laws.’ - See more

Here's is the Bill Text of State Resolution 18. The bit about pulling investment is at the bottom. The bill has already passed in a bipartisan vote in the state senate committee and is on the way to the full senate floor to be voted on and passed. This is the relevant pension fund bit:

Resolved, That the Senate strongly encourages the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, whenever feasible and consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities, to cease making direct investments in Russia and to encourage companies in which employee retirement funds are invested and that are doing business in Russia not to take actions that promote or otherwise enable human rights violations in Russia SR 18