DeSantis Bars Florida Fund Managers From Using ESG In State Pension Investments

Sarah WeaverAugust 23, 2022

Florida Gov. Ron Desantis passed a resolution Tuesday to ban state fund managers from considering environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) when managing state funds.

“This update to the fiduciary duties of the SBA’s investment fund managers and investment advisors clearly defines the factors fiduciaries are to consider in investment decisions and states that ESG considerations will not be included in the state of Florida’s pension investment management practices,” DeSantis’ office said in a press release.

In Florida, we don’t want the values of Davos, we want the values of Destin, Dunedin and DeFuniak Springs.

The resolution passed today will direct Florida’s fund managers to make sound investments on returns, not woke ideology. ESG is dead on arrival in Florida. pic.twitter.com/swUtiDxSiK

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 23, 2022

“Corporate power has increasingly been utilized to impose an ideological agenda on the American people through the perversion of financial investment priorities under the euphemistic banners of environmental, social, and corporate governance and diversity, inclusion, and equity,” DeSantis said of the resolution. “With the resolution we passed today, the tax dollars and proxy votes of the people of Florida will no longer be commandeered by Wall Street financial firms.”

DeSantis proposed legislation in July to ban state fund managers from taking ESG practices into consideration when investing state funds. (RELATED: BlackRock, The King Of ESG, Lost $1.7 Trillion Of Clients’ Money In Just 6 Months)

Several other states have taken action against ESG, including West Virginia. State Treasurer Riley Moore banned U.S. Bancorp, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and BlackRock from conducting business in the state following alleged boycotts of the fossil fuel industries from these financial firms.

Kentucky passed a bill in April which authorized the state treasurer to identify financial firms which boycotted the fossil fuel industry and bar them from doing business in the state.