Texas remains a hotbed of anti-responsible investing legislation, with 18 bills filed in the Republican-dominated state legislature for the 2025 session. State elected officials, led by Attorney General Ken Paxton, also continue to bully companies to abandon responsible clean energy and climate goals.
Unlocking America’s Future has previously worked to hold Texas officials accountable and fight back against the onslaught of anti-responsible investing activity in the state.
Here’s what you need to know about how these latest bills would attack Texans’ freedom to invest, potentially raising costs for taxpayers and hindering economic growth across the state:
Why Responsible Investing Matters for Texas’s Economy:
- Lower Costs for Families: Responsible investments often prioritize long-term sustainability that reduces costs over time, from energy-efficient infrastructure to climate-resilient development.
- Increased Competitiveness: Many companies headquartered or operating in Texas already incorporate responsible investing factors to remain competitive globally and attract investment capital.
- Job Creation: The transition to sustainable technologies creates new, high-paying jobs in renewable energy, water conservation, and other future-focused industries critical to Texas’s growth.
- Risk Management: Considering environmental and social risks helps protect Texans’ retirement savings and the state’s investments.
How Anti-Responsible Investing Bills Would Harm Texas’s Economy
These bills represent political interference in sound business and investment practices. By targeting responsible investing in Texas they would:
- Force investment managers to ignore material financial risks
- Potentially reduce returns on state pension funds
- Create regulatory confusion for Texas businesses
- Limit access to capital for companies addressing climate challenges
- Disadvantage Texas in competing for future-focused industries and jobs
Responsible investing isn’t about politics—it’s about smart economics. By considering all risks that affect long-term value, responsible investing approaches help create sustainable growth, good-paying jobs, and a more resilient Texas economy.
Current Anti-Responsible Investing Bills That Threaten Texas’s Economic Future
- House Bill 872 – Derivative proceedings:
- What it does: Shifts the “burden of proof” to corporations in shareholder lawsuits regarding responsible investing decisions, forcing companies to prove their considerations were proper rather than requiring shareholders to demonstrate impropriety and making it riskier for corporations to integrate responsible investing into decision making.
- Economic impact: Makes it potentially riskier for corporations to integrate responsible investing factors into decision-making.
- Status: HB 872 was pre-filed on November 12, 2024 with one sponsor and has had no further activity. This bill is another attempt at a failed 2023 bill, HB 4794.
- House Bill 408 – Awarding of contracts by the Texas Department of Transportation for certain materials used in road construction projects:
- What it does: Bans the Texas Department of Transportation from prioritizing responsible investing criteria when selecting contractors.
- Economic impact: Being unable to consider environmental and social factors could lead to being exposed to costly risks.
- Status: HB 408 was pre-filed on November 11, 2024 with one Republican sponsor and has had no further activity.
- Senate Bill 312 – Pension Investment restrictions:
- What it does: Restricts pension investments by requiring that public retirement systems and their investment managers make investment decisions exclusively based on financial considerations, prohibiting consideration of other social or political risks.
- Economic impact: Could reduce retirement security for Texas public employees by preventing consideration of known risks.
- Status: SB 312 was pre-filed by State Senator Bryan Hughes on November 12, 2024 and referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
- Senate Bill 388 – Data centers bill:
- What it does: Mandates that 50 percent of the megawatts of generating capacity installed in the ERCOT power region after January 1, 2026, must come from dispatchable generation sources, replacing the previous requirement that emphasized natural gas even though supporting gas appears to still be the goal.
- Economic impact: Limits the ability of data centers to choose responsible power sources.
- Status: SB 388 was pre-filed by Republican Senator Phil King on November 19, 2024 and referred to the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.
- Senate Bill 495 – Restricting use of Responsible Investing criteria by TX Department of Insurance:
- What it does: Restrict the Texas Department of Insurance’s ability to adopt rules based on responsible investing models, ratings, or standards.
- Economic impact: Could restrict the Department of Insurance from its ability to properly undertake risk assessments.
- Status: SB 495 was pre-filed on November 22, 2024. The Senate Business and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the bill on February 18, 2025.
- Senate Bill 945 – Relating to the adoption of political shareholder proposals by insurers and insurance holding companies:
- What it does: Prohibits “political shareholder proposals” that involve limiting insurance of fossil fuel companies, promote greenhouse gas emission disclosure or reduction, or vaguely advancing responsible investing.
- Economic impact: Could expose companies to increased risk.
- Status: SB 945 was introduced by Sen. Bryan Hughes on January 27, 2025 and referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee. This bill is nearly identical to Hughes’ SB 1060 from the 2023 session.
- Senate Bill 946 – Prohibition on certain discrimination in the extension of credit:
- What it does: Ban an “authorized lender” from denying loans or credit for anything other than “quantitative, impartial standards.”
- Economic impact: Limits lenders from considering full scope of known risks before making a loan or extending credit
- Status: SB 946 was introduced by Sen. Bryan Hughes on January 27, 2025 and referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee. This bill is nearly identical to Hughes’ SB 1683 from the 2023 session.
- Senate Bill 949 – Deceptive and unfair practices of financial institutions:
- What it does: Create civil liability and penalties for financial institutions that directly or indirectly “discriminate in providing financial services” based on a “social credit score” to “decline to provide full and equal enjoyment in the provision of financial services, including refusing to provide, terminating or restricting financial services”
- Economic impact: Limits financial institutions from considering the full scope of known risks of potential clients.
- Status: SB 949 was introduced on January 28, 2025 and referred to the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.
