Dear Board of Supervisors, Treasurer Laura Bowers, and Treasury Oversight Commission of Santa Cruz,

We are disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that this body has decided to maintain investments in corporations complicit in Genocide, let alone the other corporations with horrid track records of human rights and environmental abuses.

Santa Cruz County, as of the 2024 quarterly report ending in June 2024, had $60 million invested in one of the most complicit of the American tech giants, Intel. Now, as of the Quarterly Report ending in March 2025, Santa Cruz will only have $25 Million invested in Intel by October 2025.
Intel is the largest private employer in Israel. Intel Israel was founded in 1974 in Haifa as Intel's first development center outside the USA.
In 1981 Intel's first factory outside the USA was established in Jerusalem.
The two have been in lockstep since.
Intel’s main facility in Israel, Kiryat Gat, is an Israeli settlement built on the ruins of the ethnically cleansed Palestinian village of Iraq al-Manshiyya. It lies approximately 16 miles from the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip.

We are thankful that Santa Cruz county is no longer invested in Caterpillar; however, this was only because the $3 Million investment matured and not because it is against investment policy.
Caterpillar has been selling bulldozers to the Israeli Military since 1956. For those on the ground, Caterpillar is synonymous with the occupation.
Caterpillar is used as a tool of the state to commit destruction of community not just in Palestine, but also here in our own backyards. Displacing the already displaced.

We are most disappointed in our county governments investment in Toyota.
Santa Cruz County, as of the Quarterly Report ending in March 2025, has 109.7 Million dollars directly invested in Toyota. By the end of the year 2025 the total amount will be 70 Million, as two investments worth 39.7 Million will Mature by October 16. Toyota seems to be a favorite for this county as the county has invested in Toyota 5 times, totaling 109.7 Million in just the last 2.5 years.
Toyota’s are the most commonly used vehicles in the Israeli Security Forces, including the Israeli military, Israeli Police, and the Israeli Border Police. Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser vehicle chassis are used for the “David” ultra-light armored personnel carrier and Light Armored Vehicle manufactured/retrofitted by MDT Armor.
Toyota uses MDT Armor, an Alabama based company, owned by an Israeli based company named Shladot, as a way to add a layer of distance between them and the actions of the Israeli armed forces. MDT Armor retrofits Toyotas for both the Israeli and US militaries.

Firstly, We demand that the Board of Supervisors and the Treasury Oversight Commission divest from all companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. It has been clear from the start of Israel's campaign that the goal was to ethnically cleanse; government officials at the local level need to do everything possible to ensure that we are investing according to the values we claim to uphold.

Lastly, we demand that that the Board Of Supervisors adopt a Values Aligned Investment Policy. To ensure that we, as a county no longer invest in any companies committing human rights abuses at home or abroad. As well as to ensure that we as a county, are investing in a manner that reflects the values and beliefs of our community.