On Thursday, December 19th at 3:00 PM EST Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) held a press call with Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson (D-16), Houston City Controller Chris Hollins, Texas American Federation of Teachers Government Affairs Specialist and Policy Analyst Alejandro Peña, political strategist and co-founder of Seeker Strategies Cliff Walker, and UAF Spokesperson Kyle Herrig looking back at the year in anti-ESG measures in Texas, and how the extremists’ attacks on Americans’ freedoms could continue into 2025.
As Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson said, “There are three basic principles: you cannot be for the free flow of private capital only when you like where it’s flowing; you cannot be for freedom of speech only when you like what they’re saying; and you can’t be for the independence of business judgment only when you like their decisions. Choosing favorites among businesses is not pro-business.”
Sen. Johnson expanded on this, clarifying, “I want to emphasize, I am not against the oil and gas industry, I actually can support responsible exploration and production of natural gas, it’s a nice, relatively clean fuel, at worst it’s a transition fuel. This is not about being against oil and gas, this is about not artificially inflating the profits of a particular sector to score political points and in so doing transgressing the fundamental principles of good limited government.”
Houston Controller Chris Hollins expanded on the impact of SB-13 and other anti-ESG bills on municipalities on how these bills ultimately raise prices for taxpayers. He said, “When decisions are made by officials in Austin to blacklist companies because of their political views or because of their stances on things like energy, climate sustainability, or responsible gun ownership, that ultimately reduces competition – and that lack of competition drives up prices for you and me.”
He continued discussing the way the lack of options for cities can affect public services for taxpayers: “[Our city is] paying long-term debt that’s equivalent to a mortgage, and when that rate goes up because there are fewer bidders to take on these major debt issuances, it’s going to make life tough for us. That’s going to force us to put more taxpayer dollars into debt service, which means less into critical services like public safety, housing, public health, parks, and picking folks’ trash up. So in summary, we have to take the politics out of municipal finance.”
Alejandro Peña, the Government Affairs Specialist and Policy Analyst for the Texas American Federation of Teachers, joined the call to discuss how SB-13 and other anti-ESG measures are affecting school funding in Texas. Thanks to a unilateral decision by State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey, Texas divested $8.5 billion in Permanent School Fund (PSF) assets from BlackRock, one of the world’s largest and highest-performing asset management companies. The PSF is a $53 billion endowment, which provides crucial funding to schools in Texas.
Peña explained, “The timing of this decision couldn’t have been worse. It came amid extreme school funding shortages in Texas, which have led to mass layoffs and school closures across the state. This isn’t just about numbers on a spreadsheet, it’s about real impacts on our students, educators, and communities.”
He continued, “Responsible investing reduces risk over the long term, while politicization has introduced unnecessary risks to the PSF – an endowment created as a stable funding source for Texas public education. The endowment exists to serve our students, not political agendas. And when ideology drives decisions rather than sound financial principles and fiduciary duty, it’s our children and taxpayers who ultimately pay the price.”
Unlocking America’s Future spokesperson Kyle Herrig agreed, saying “This past year has seen extreme billionaires and self-serving politicians continue to use Texas as their playground. They push extreme laws that line their own pockets at the expense of taxpayers. Elected officials in the state have continued to attack responsible investing in the statehouse and the courthouse as well as blacklisting some of the world’s largest financial institutions for engaging in responsible investing, which costs the state hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2024 politicians showed they weren’t gravely harming the taxpayers and risking the states’ economy in order to appease a small number of self-serving backers.”
Seeker Strategies co-founder Cliff Walker summed up the year as follows: “2024 has been a remarkable year in many many ways, but the issue that continues to come to the fore is the subject of ESG investing. For some reason, it has occupied a lot of air and time in our lawmaking and in our policy discussions. Texas has been the center for that discussion and policy-making, and we’re paying the price and feeling the pain that comes with it.”
To watch the full press briefing, click here.
