A bill in the Oklahoma Legislature to amend the state’s three-year-old anti-ESG law died last week after criticism that it would water down efforts to avoid public investments in companies boycotting oil and gas companies.
ESG is an acronym for environmental, social, and governance-based investing. Oklahoma’s 2022 Energy Discrimination Elimination Act bans state investments with companies that boycott or penalize energy companies for lawful action.
The Oklahoma Senate Energy Committee had advanced SB 714, sponsored by state Sen. Dave Rader, a Republican. Speaker Pro Temp Anthony Moore, also a Republican, sponsored a House version.
But state GOP lawmakers were divided on the matter. The bill would have removed responsibility for enforcing the law—that deals with pension investments—from the state treasurer’s office to the state attorney general’s office.
“Overall, the bill would have diluted anti-ESG protections. So, I was glad to see it go,” Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, told The Daily Signal.
In July, Oklahoma District Court Judge Sheila Stinson issued an order to permanently block the law, stemming from a legal challenge by a state pensioner. The case is pending an appeal in the state Supreme Court.
Rader, the Senate sponsor, previously told The Daily Signal his bill was to “make some corrections so it’s not in a lawsuit.” He added that the legislation was to keep the anti-ESG law applicable, not to dilute it.
Hild argued that litigation still working through the courts is not grounds to make changes.
“The lawsuit was without merit,” Hild said. “The district judge overreached. It should be a basic function of government to decide who it does business with. The Legislature was overwhelmingly in support of this. Using the judiciary as an excuse not to enforce this is absurd.”
Under the 2022 law, the Oklahoma state treasurer, currently Todd Russ, keeps a list of financial institutions that boycott oil and gas companies and creates a schedule for state governmental entities to divest from the companies, including BlackRock, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America.
The failed state Senate bill would have transferred enforcement authority to the state attorney general, currently Gentner Drummond. It would have also changed disclosure and judicial provisions for state governmental entities.
“I was one of the many thousands of Oklahomans that called senators urging them to stop the consideration of SB 714 from forcing radical pro-ESG policies on our state,” Suzanne Ashmore, a Heritage Action for America Grassroots Sentinel from Norman, Oklahoma, told The Daily Signal. “Sentinels met with our representatives and senators in Oklahoma City to urge them to protect our oil and gas jobs and our hard earned savings from woke politics. We won’t let corporate elites crush our way of life. I’m encouraged that legislators listened.”
Critics said the bill’s language would allow large asset managers to pressure companies to cut fossil fuel production through threats to vote against board members. Further, critics said that the bill would create a loophole for government agencies to ignore the statute.
“ESG has become a political tool used by the Left to impose its progressive ideology on the American people. It is divisive, creates inefficiency, and has no place in Oklahoma. Heritage Action is pleased the Oklahoma Senate recognized the dangers of SB 714’s pro-ESG’s provisions and stopped it in its tracks,” Catherine Gunsalus, director of state advocacy for Heritage Action for America, told The Daily Signal. “We look forward to continuing the work alongside an army of grassroots Americans across the country to ensure ESG does not interfere with their livelihoods.”
