Red State Treasurers Say Progressives Are Fighting to Block Anti-ESG Pension Rules

The national fight over the politicization of public pension funds heated up this week.

Republican states across the country have passed laws to boycott Wall Street banks and asset managers who they say are pushing a left-wing agenda on issues such as global warming and gun control. But state financial officers who enforce those laws say they are coming under fire as progressives fight back. 

This week, the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), an organization of conservative state treasurers, announced a new nonprofit that pledged to come to the defense of state finance officials.

Treasury officials in states including West Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and Oklahoma have begun terminating contracts with financial firms that they say are discriminating against local companies in industries such as coal, oil, gas, and firearms. 

In March, the Texas State Board of Education made headlines when it fired BlackRock as manager of its $8.5 billion school fund. Texas Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey, who runs the fund, said his decision to remove the asset manager was due to “BlackRock’s destructive approach toward the energy companies that this state and our world depend on.”

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