As the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement gets more notice, states are taking considerable action to stem the tide. 

Last month, Kansas’ Democratic governor allowed an anti-ESG bill to be enacted into law—becoming the 14th state to take meaningful action here.

Now Alabama, Indiana, and Oklahoma are joining the chorus. 

Alabama

Senate Bill 261 has been regarded as one of the strictest anti-ESG measures considered by any state yet. The bill’s sponsor said he drafted the bill to insulate his state from national happenings pertaining to this movement.

The bill, if passed, would “prohibit governmental entities from entering into certain contracts with companies that boycott businesses because the business engages in certain sectors or does not meet certain environmental or corporate governance standards or does not facilitate certain activities.” 

Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth tweeted, “The anti-ESG bill ensures the interest[s] of AL taxpayers are always protected.” 

The bill now heads to the state House of Representatives and is expected to pass there.

Indiana

Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN) recently signed Indiana’s anti-ESG bill, House Bill 1008, into law. 

State pension managers overseeing over $45 billion will be barred from weighing ESG factors when stewarding financial investments. Additionally, the new law makes clear Indiana public retirement system board of trustees cannot violate their fiduciary duties by betraying the financial interests “of the participants and beneficiaries of the system for the exclusive purposes of providing financial benefits to participants and beneficiaries and defraying reasonable expenses of administering the system.”

The bill’s supporters billed the effort as “finance first” in line with free enterprise values.

Oklahoma

Taking a page from Texas, Kentucky, and West Virginia, Oklahoma has released its own restricted financial list highlighting companies that actively engage in boycotts of energy industry companies, for instance. 

Per the state’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022, which took effect on November 1, 2022, 13 companies have been accused of engaging in discriminatory financial practices towards companies that don’t subscribe to faulty net-zero electricity generation policies. Of the listed financial institutions, BlackRock, State Street, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America were singled out.

If listed companies desire to be removed, they must prove they aren’t actively discriminating against energy companies. 

ESG is nothing more than a woke agenda masquerading as an investment strategy that causes serious financial harm. States willing to push back are clearly outing the financial interests of their citizens first. To learn more about ESG, go here.