The Bond Buyer, a leading trade publication covering the municipal finance community, recently spotlighted Unlocking America’s Future (UAF) in a story about a decrease in anti-ESG laws passed in 2024 amidst growing research showing their adverse effects on the economy, local infrastructure projects, and pension funds. Senior Reporter Karen Pierog focused on Texas and Oklahoma – states notorious for passing some of the most extreme anti-ESG legislation including bans against financial institutions for investing in clean energy – and highlighted UAF’s latest campaign in Texas as an example of how advocates are pushing back and holding politicians accountable.
Key takeaways from the story include:
- The passage of a wide-variety of anti-ESG bills slowed dramatically this year with Pleiades Strategy, a research and advisory firm, reporting just six becoming law, compared to 23 in 2023.
- Studies pointing to adverse financial and economic impacts from the Texas and Oklahoma laws are piling up, attracting attention from Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee who requested information on their financial effects
- Unlocking America’s Future, a group that works to counter attacks against ESG, launched a Texas campaign in May that includes a six-figure digital ad campaign “to set the record straight about the economic costs of Texas’ extreme positions on a range of issues including responsible investing.”
- As part of its 2024-25 platform and resolutions, the National Association of Counties noted “special interest groups are actively collaborating on a nationwide campaign to restrict and eliminate local authority regarding pensions, municipal bonds, and government funds by passing legislation and resolutions at both the national and state levels that oppose local control and free-market principles.”
You can read the full story here.
Learn more about UAF’s campaign in Texas:
- NEW CAMPAIGN: “Textremism” Is Bad for Business
- RELEASE: New Report Shows Texas Anti-ESG Laws Could Cost State Over $820 Million in 2024 Alone
- RELEASE: New Poll, Research Report Reveal Economic Costs of Texas Anti-ESG Laws, Show Voters Are Fed Up
- ICYMI: Houston Controller Says Texas Anti-ESG Laws Puts City in ‘Jeopardy’ at Unlocking America’s Future Press Briefing
- ICYMI: Austin American-Statesman Covers New Texas Campaign From Unlocking America’s Future
- ICYMI: The Hill Covers New Poll, Report From Unlocking America’s Future Showing Texans Are Done With State’s Extremism
- RELEASE: Unlocking America’s Future Publishes Explainer Video on Consequences of Texas’ Responsible Investing Bans
