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Enacted state ESG legislation by trifecta status, 2020-2025
| What is ESG? ESG investing is an asset management approach that considers the environment, social issues, and corporate governance practices. It's a type of stakeholder investing, which argues shareholder returns should not be the only goal. Stakeholder investing contrasts with traditional approaches that exclusively consider financial factors like balance sheets, income statements, and valuations to maximize risk-adjusted returns (also known as shareholder investing). |
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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| • What is ESG? • Enacted ESG legislation • Arguments for and against ESG • Opposition to ESG • Federal ESG rules • ESG legislation tracker • Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's weekly ESG newsletter |
This page lists enacted ESG legislation by trifecta status and state.
36 states have enacted 137 bills either opposing or supporting environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing between 2020 and 2025.
Overall, most Republican trifectas and states with divided governments have tended to enact legislation opposing ESG. Most Democratic trifectas have tended to enact legislation supporting ESG investing. 92% of all enacted ESG bills since 2020 have:
- opposed ESG in a Republican trifecta at the time of their enactment (76 bills),
- supported ESG in a Democratic trifecta at the time of their enactment (32 bills), or
- opposed ESG in a divided government at the time of their enactment (16 bills).
This page sorts those 92% of enacted bills into six policy approaches opposing ESG and five supporting it, highlighting:
Legislative approaches opposing ESG enacted in Republican trifecta states
Legislative approaches supporting or opposing ESG enacted in divided government states
Legislative approaches supporting ESG enacted in Democratic trifecta states
To see a comprehensive list of bills related to ESG, check out Ballotpedia's ESG legislation tracker below:
Ballotpedia's ESG legislation tracker
Legislative approaches opposing ESG enacted in Republican trifecta states
This section tracks enacted legislation opposing ESG in Republican trifecta states from 2020-2025.
Enacted ESG legislation totals in Republican trifectas, 2020-2025
Note: this section lists Republican trifectas as of July 2025.
22 out of 23 Republican trifecta states enacted legislation opposing ESG between 2020 and 2025. Of those states:[1]
- 18 enacted sole fiduciary legislation
- 14 enacted anti-boycott legislation
- 13 enacted anti-discrimination legislation
- 10 enacted public disclosure requirement legislation
- 6 enacted legislation opposing federal ESG mandates
- 1 enacted consumer and investor protection legislation
The table below provides a list of bills enacted in Republican trifectas since 2020, organized by state and reform approach.
| Enacted ESG legislation totals in Republican trifectas, 2020-2025[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Sole fiduciary | Anti-boycott | Anti-discrimination | Consumer and investor protection | Public disclosure requirement | Federal mandate opposition |
| Alabama | 2024 | |||||
| Arkansas | ||||||
| Florida | ||||||
| Georgia | ||||||
| Idaho | ||||||
| Indiana | ||||||
| Iowa | ||||||
| Louisiana | ||||||
| Mississippi | ||||||
| Missouri | ||||||
| Montana | ||||||
| Nebraska | ||||||
| North Dakota | ||||||
| New Hampshire | ||||||
| Ohio | 2025 | |||||
| Oklahoma | ||||||
| South Carolina | ||||||
| South Dakota | ||||||
| Tennessee | ||||||
| Texas | ||||||
| Utah | ||||||
| West Virginia | ||||||
| Wyoming | ||||||
Legislative approaches supporting ESG enacted in Democratic trifecta states
This section tracks enacted legislation supporting ESG in Democratic trifecta states from 2020 through 2025.
Enacted ESG legislation totals in Democratic trifectas, 2020-2025
Note: this section lists Democratic trifectas as of July 2025.
Nine out of 15 Democratic trifecta states enacted legislation supporting ESG between 2020 and 2025. Of those states:[1]
- 6 enacted non-financial criteria consideration legislation
- 4 enacted industry divestment legislation
- 2 enacted corporate board diversity legislation
- 3 enacted corporate disclosure legislation
- 6 enacted legislation requiring ESG criteria in state contracts
The table below provides a list of bills enacted in Democratic trifectas since 2020, organized by state and reform approach.
| Enacted ESG legislation totals in Democratic trifectas, 2020-2025[1] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Non-financial criteria consideration | Industry divestment | Corporate board diversity | Corporate disclosure | State contracts |
| California | 2024, 2024 | ||||
| Colorado | |||||
| Connecticut | |||||
| Delaware | |||||
| Hawaii | |||||
| Illinois | |||||
| Maine | |||||
| Maryland | |||||
| Massachusetts | |||||
| New Jersey | |||||
| New Mexico | |||||
| New York | |||||
| Oregon | |||||
| Rhode Island | |||||
| Washington | |||||
Legislative approaches supporting or opposing ESG enacted in divided government states
This section tracks enacted legislation opposing or supporting ESG in states with divided governments from 2020 through 2025.
Enacted ESG legislation totals in divided governments, 2020-2025
Note: this section lists divided governments as of July 2025.
Three out of the 12 states with divided governments as of 2025 have enacted nine bills opposing ESG since 2020. All three of the states had a Republican-controlled legislature and a Democratic governor at the time the legislation was enacted. Of the nine bills, five were passed through a veto override or without the governor's signature. Of the three states:[1]
- 3 enacted sole fiduciary legislation
- 1 enacted anti-boycott legislation
- 3 enacted anti-discrimination legislation
- 3 enacted public disclosure requirement legislation
- 0 enacted legislation opposing federal ESG mandates
- 0 enacted consumer and investor protection legislation
Two out of the 12 states with divided governments enacted legislation supporting ESG between 2020 and 2025. Of those states:[1]
- 0 enacted non-financial criteria consideration legislation
- 0 enacted industry divestment legislation
- 2 enacted corporate board diversity legislation
- 0 enacted corporate disclosure legislation
- 0 enacted legislation requiring ESG criteria in state contracts
| Enacted ESG legislation in divided governments, 2020-2025[1] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Sole Fiduciary | Anti-Boycott | Anti-Discrimination | Consumer and Investor Protection | Public Disclosure Requirement | Federal Mandate Opposition | Non-financial Criteria Consideration | Industry Divestment | Corporate Board Diversity | Corporate Disclosure | State Contracts | ||
| Alaska | |||||||||||||
| Arizona | |||||||||||||
| Kansas | |||||||||||||
| Kentucky | |||||||||||||
| Michigan | |||||||||||||
| Minnesota | |||||||||||||
| Nevada | |||||||||||||
| North Carolina | |||||||||||||
| Pennsylvania | |||||||||||||
| Vermont | |||||||||||||
| Virginia | |||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | |||||||||||||
See also
- Reform proposals related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Enacted state ESG legislation by trifecta status, 2024
- State legislative activity against ESG investing
- State legislative approaches opposing ESG investing
External links
- Consumers' Research, "ANTI-ESG ACTIONS AND LEGISLATION TRACKER"
- Pleiades Strategy, "Live Anti-ESG Bill Tracker"
- Ropes & Gray, "Navigating State Regulation of ESG"
- Debevoise & Plimpton, "State-Level ESG Investment Developments Tracker"
- Kramer Levin, "ESG Regulatory and Policy Tracker"
- K&L Gates, "2023 ESG STATE LEGISLATION WRAP UP"
Footnotes
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