Today, the New Hampshire State House Committee on Executive Departments and Administration debated and voted unanimously against recommending legislation that makes it a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison for knowingly using ESG criteria to determine investment strategies for state funds.
The two legislators co-sponsoring the bill failed to justify the necessity of the legislation, resorting to name-calling (referring to responsible investing as “the ESG cartel”) and claiming that the “ESG cartel represents the financial engine of the cultural revolution.”
Meanwhile, multiple public commenters made clear the harm the bill would do, including a representative of an educators’ union that represents individuals who would have been negatively impacted by the passage of H.B. 1267. Meanwhile, those in favor of the bill provided no public witnesses.
Unlocking America’s Future spokesperson Kyle Herrig said the following:
“Today’s debate shows that anti-responsible investing extremists have no answer for their radical proposal to imprison those knowingly using ESG criteria to invest state funds. This is a ridiculous escalation in the anti-responsible investing playbook, which will dramatically punish those just trying to do their jobs and hurt Granite Staters in the long run. We applaud the committee for voting against recommendation.”
