Kansas officials are not allowed to use it Environment, Social and Governance Factors in investing public money or deciding who gets government contracts because the state’s Democratic governor allows it a republican measure become law without their signature.
Gov. Laura Kelly’s decision came Monday after she vetoed more than a dozen other anti-transgender, anti-abortion and anti-transgender advocates culture war measures approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. She turned down a bill on Monday that would have allowed parents to remove their public school students classes or activities that offend them, and another measure that Kelly said may have resulted in jail terms for some people who help illegal immigrants in the United States.
The New anti-ESG law, which goes into effect July 1, is part of a larger push by conservatives across the US against what they see as “woke” practices that push liberal climate or diversity goals. At least nine states have enacted such laws; Montana’s GOP governor signed a bill and measure into law last week cleared Indiana’s GOP-controlled legislature On Monday.
“This law will ensure that public money – particularly our state pension fund – is invested in a way that generates the highest possible returns with the lowest possible acceptable risk, and that public contracts are awarded to the entities best qualified to deliver them.” meet,” Kansas State Treasurer Steven Johnson, a Republican-elect last year, said in a statement.
Republicans in the US have pushed back as the application of ESG principles has become more prevalent and visible.
Last month, 19 GOP governors issued a statement calling ESG a “direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom and the way we live.” Utah’s Republican State Treasurer told a GOP convention that ESG was “an open door to authoritarianism” and “Satan’s plan.”
About one-eighth of professionally managed US assets, or $8.4 trillion, are managed in accordance with ESG principles, according to a December report by the US SIF, which advocates for sustainable investing.
ESG proponents argued that it provides a better risk assessment for investors by addressing issues such as whether a global green energy shift is making fossil fuel investments less financially sound.
Also released earlier this month was a study by Bain & Company, a global management consultancy, and EcoVadis, which provides sustainability ratings for 110,000 companies worldwide, including 10,000 in the US Sustainable supply chains all correlate with stronger revenue growth and higher profitability.
The researchers noted that many factors can affect a company’s financial results, but EcoVadis Chief Rating Officer Sylvain Guyoton said the study suggests that a company’s use of ESG is worth considering.
“Some of these ESG activities are good old management practices that have been renamed ESG,” Guyoton said in a recent interview from Paris.
In announcing that the Kansas measure would become law, Kelly did not address how investment managers of the state and its pension system for teachers and government employees “must consider only financial factors” when making investment decisions.
The governor acknowledged he has reservations about “possible unforeseen consequences” because the state and cities, counties and local school districts cannot favor bidders on contracts based on ESG principles.
The measure had little support from Democratic lawmakers. Conservatives followed with proposals for new rules for private wealth managers strong setback from influential business and banking groups.
Meanwhile, Kelly has thrown out the Republican-proposed Parents’ Bill of Rights, which would have allowed parents to request an alternative if a public school lesson or activity violates “the parents’ righteous beliefs, values, or principles.” impaired”. The governor said such a measure “diverts” from fully funding education.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican from Wichita, said Kelly contradicts the right of parents to “direct the education, upbringing, and moral or religious upbringing of their own children.” Supporters of the bill did not appear to have the necessary two-thirds majority to override a veto.
Republicans said the immigration law would have tackled people smuggling.
It would have been a crime to transport, harbor, or conceal another person if anyone knew, or should have known, that a person is in the United States illegally and is “likely to be exploited” for some other financial benefit, when the person trades it, the immigrant “benefits financially or receives something of value.” A first-time offender could be sentenced to almost three years in prison.
Kelly argued that the bill could land “a good Samaritan” in jail for accepting gas money for driving an immigrant neighbor to work.
“This overcriminalization is unnecessary and shows that lawmakers have not considered the full impact of this law,” Kelly said.
The measure freed the legislature with large, bipartisan supermajorities.
“Governor Kelly has opposed law and order and put radical politics ahead of the safety and human rights of victims,” Hawkins said in a statement.
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