(JustPatriots.com)- Tuesday saw the passage of a measure by Florida Governor Ron Desantis that will prevent state fund managers from considering environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) when making investment decisions.
The DeSantis’ office said in a press release that 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.
According to what DeSantis said about the resolution, 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.
He said that thanks to the resolution that he passed, the financial institutions on Wall Street would no longer be able to co-opt the tax funds and proxy votes that are provided by the people of Florida.
In July, DeSantis introduced legislation prohibiting state fund managers from considering environmental, social, and governance policies when investing in public assets.
West Virginia is one of the states that, along with several others, has taken action against ESG. State Treasurer Riley Moore issued an executive order that prevented U.S. Bancorp, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and BlackRock from conducting business in the state in response to allegations that these financial institutions had participated in a boycott of the fossil fuel industry.
In April, the state of Kentucky passed a bill that gave the state treasurer the authority to identify financial companies that participated in a boycott of the fossil fuel industry and prevent those companies from conducting business in the state.
DeSantis has stated that he doesn’t want to have the values of Davos forced upon us but rather the values of Destin and Dunedin, the places where he grew up.
According to DeSantis, the World Economic Forum’s plans “are dead on arrival in the state of Florida. We are not going down that road.”
The resolution, which will serve as the foundation for legislation when the Florida Legislature convenes in January, was approved along with the votes of the other two trustees, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.
The ESG movement, which has been around for 20 years, was inspired by a United Nations program to promote corporate responsibility by promoting investment in businesses that have policies addressing concerns like climate change, human rights, and racial inequality.
