House Speaker Cracks Down on ESG, Tells Credit Rating Agencies to ‘Drop the Politics’

Published Nov. 25, 2022, 1:27 p.m. ET | Updated Nov. 25, 2022

Paul Renner

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – House Speaker Paul Renner sent a letter to Florida’s three credit rating agencies demanding they “drop the politics” and return to an “objective” financial criteria to measure the states credit rating.

Renner wants lawmakers to crack down on the ESG criteria. ESG is the Environmental, Social, and Governance goals that determines investment based on political factors such as renewable energy and social justice initiatives.

“In practice, ESG demands that companies adopt radical environmental and diversity goals and uses a scoring system to reward or punish companies based on their compliance,” Renner said.

The House Speaker said ESG poses a “direct threat” to Florida’s pension fund and credit rating.

“These radical goals are causing a politically-induced energy crisis, raising prices at the pump and our electric bills. ESG increases our cost of living, undermines our national security, and bypasses the checks and balances of the democratic process,” he explained.

During his acceptance speech Tuesday, Renner said credit rating agencies began requiring the state provide data to measure compliance with “ESG’s political dogma.”

“ESG scoring will soon become a factor in our state’s credit rating, meaning fiscally irresponsible states like California could receive a better credit rating than Florida simply because they embrace ESG’s political agenda,” Renner said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis this summer said ESG investing is used to target “disfavored” individuals and industries to advance a “woke” ideological agenda.

“Do we want our society to be governed by some of the most economically elite and powerful interests in society?” DeSantis asked. “And I think our economy is going to be much better off if everything is not politicized. It used to be it wasn’t a political issue. You didn’t have to take positions on every little thing.”

At that time, the governor said he wants SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment on behalf of Florida retirees.

“We want to make sure that they are not using political factors when investing the state’s money,” DeSantis said. “We want them to invest the state’s money for the best interests of the beneficiaries of those funds, which is again, the people that are retired cops and teachers and other public employees.”

Governor DeSantis’ proposed legislation for the 2023 Legislative Session will:

– Prohibit big banks, credit card companies and money transmitters from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs.

– Prohibit State Board of Administration (SBA) fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing the state’s money.

– Require SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment on behalf of Florida’s retirees.

Share This Post

Latest News

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments