On Friday, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an opinion memo advising the board of trustees for the Virginia Retirement System, whose beneficiaries include public school teachers, to ban responsible investments. The advisory comes after two anti-ESG bills in the state failed in 2022 and 2023, laying bare that one of Virginia’s most powerful elected officials is moving forward with attacks on ESG investing despite its overwhelming unpopularity among Americans across party lines.
“State lawmakers have repeatedly made clear that Virginians do not support anti-ESG laws, but Attorney General Jason Miyares, who has taken over half a million dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, has nonetheless moved forward with a pressure campaign to attack responsible investments,” said Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “The research is clear – just look at states like Texas and Oklahoma. Should Virginia follow this advisory, it will hurt the state’s economy and the financial security of Virginians trying to save for retirement.”
These attacks on responsible investing have led to disastrous results for states’ economies, including hundreds of millions in lost economic activity or additional costs to local governments in both Texas and Oklahoma.
- A new report from economic insights firm The Perryman Group revealed anti-ESG moves in Texas have the potential to cost the state as much as $821.1 million and nearly 8,800 job-years by the end of 2024.
- A study commissioned by the Oklahoma Rural Association and conducted by the University of Central Oklahoma found that Oklahoma municipalities were forced to pay over $180 million in expenses thanks to an anti-ESG investing law that has since been blocked in the courts.
The reports reinforce findings from other studies in other states:
- The Kansas State Division of the Budget projected reduced returns of $3.6 billion over 10 years for the Kansas Public Retirement System if anti-ESG investment restrictions were adopted.
- The Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System estimated that they could lose $30 million to $40 million a year due to an anti-ESG bill that would require the state treasurer and public entities to divest assets from certain institutions that use metrics related to responsible investing.
- The Indiana Public Retirement System found that anti-ESG legislation “could result in reduced investment returns by $6.7 B over the next 10 years.
