Kansas passes legislation opposing ESG (2023)
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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The Kansas House also passed a bill on March 23 that would prohibit the use of ESG factors in state and local pension contracting and investments. Supporters and opponents alike questioned whether the bill would have much impact.
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Bipartisan frustration flourished during Kansas House debate on a bill requiring state and local governments to ignore environmental and social factors and focus exclusively on achieving the greatest financial return when making contract decisions and pension investments. Legislation approved Thursday by the House on a vote of 85-38 and forwarded to the Kansas Senate would amend state law to force the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System to concentrate on the fiduciary duty of maximizing monetary gain with a portfolio serving teachers and other government workers. The bill also would forbid the state, as well as cities, counties and school boards, from giving weight to environmental, social or governance criteria, or ESG, when signing contracts. “We’re seeing governments weaponize and use pension systems and government contracts to further their ideological agendas,” said Rep. Nick Hoheisel, a Wichita Republican. “Most folks in this chamber, at least on my side, believe we should invest public funds with the best return on investment possible.”… House Bill 2436 would make it illegal to give preference or to discriminate against specific businesses, including those engaged in nuclear, oil, coal or natural gas operations, agriculture production, forestry, mining, and firearm and ammunition manufacturing. The legislation in the House would block contracting and investing tied to ESG goals such as diversity by race, ethnicity, sex or sexual orientation. It also specified investments and contracts couldn’t be guided by analysis of whether companies assisted employees in obtaining an abortion or with gender assignment surgery…. The House stopped on procedural grounds an attempt by Rep. Michael Murphy, R-Sylvia, to tack on an amendment requiring Kansas investment advisers to secure written permission from clients before initiating investments aligned with ESG principles. Murphy said the United Nations had worked for decades to infiltrate the economy with ideas of gender parity, racial justice and poverty reduction. The House bill would offer a measure of protection to key Kansas businesses from dangerous activists who didn’t put profit first, he said…. Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, and Rep. Rui Xu, D-Westood, agreed the bill wouldn’t do much to transform investment activity in Kansas. Tarwater had sought a deeper dive into the ESG problem and referred to the House bill, if signed into law, as “one of the weakest” in the United States. “I wish we could have done better,” Tarwater said. “Sometimes we try to appease everybody, but we just can’t. It’s a narrow road. You’ve got constituents and businesses on one side. You’ve got your supporters on another. It’s hard to keep everybody happy.”[1] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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