Anti-ESG State Legislation Tracker & Analysis
In 2023 Republican lawmakers in 37 states introduced 165 pieces of legislation to weaponize government funds, contracts, and pensions to prevent companies and investors from considering commonplace risk factors in making responsible, risk-adjusted investment decisions. This coordinated legislative effort, commonly referred to as the anti-ESG movement, generated massive backlash from the business community, labor leaders, retirees, environmentalists, and even some Republican politicians.
Pleiades Strategy, a strategic research and advisory firm, has released the first comprehensive look at this legislative campaign and the broad effort to counter it. It follows the general arc of these 165 bills — where they came from, who sponsored them, who supported and opposed them, and how they fared.
The report found that despite the growing anti-ESG rhetoric, partisan legislative efforts have failed to gain widespread support, even in Republican-led states, because they would come at an enormous cost to taxpayers, businesses and financial institutions, pensioners, and state economies.
Key findings from the report include:
Despite all the hype, the vast majority of anti-ESG bills failed to progress through legislative chambers. No bills passed in 17 states, including in ten states fully controlled by Republicans.
The 22 bills that did pass will cost state residents and drain public coffers.
These bills faced opposition from the public, the business community, labor representatives, and even Republican officials and staunch conservatives.
Damning cost estimates shared in testimony and legislative fiscal notes showed how the bills would drive up the costs of borrowing and decrease public pension returns.
The anti-ESG push is a coordinated, top-down campaign waged by right-wing dark money organizations, many of which are connected to oil and gas industry affiliates.
More detail about this nationwide campaign against responsible investing can be found in the new report, in Pleiades Strategy’s comprehensive bill tracker map, and this spreadsheet.