Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says the State Senate and its Republican majority will pass the Iran Divestment Act of 2012 during a session Monday, Jan. 9. “The Senate’s swift action shows how important it is that we stand together to condemn tyrannical governments like Iran which sponsor terrorism, have attempted to acquire nuclear weapons and threaten U.S. allies like Israel, as Iran has repeatedly done," Skelos said in a press release. "I applaud [Democrat Assembly] Speaker [Sheldon] Silver for taking the lead on this effort and moving it forward in the Assembly.” The Iran Divestment Act of 2012 (S5917A) was modeled after similar legislation in California and, "conceived with help from the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York," according to Skelos' press release, would prohibit companies that provide goods, services or credit worth $20 million or more to Iran's energy industry from entering into or renewing state and local government contracts. The legislation directs the Office of General Services to create a list of people, corporations and other organizations with investments of more than $20 million in the Iranian energy sector. Those on the list would be excluded from bidding on government contracts. The bill also requires individuals or entities to certify they are not on the list when they submit bids to state and local agencies.