Oklahoma is the latest state to join the lengthening list of those with legislation to boycott financial institutions that target energy companies and firearms manufacturers via so-called social engineering.
Several states have proposed or enacted laws to prohibit public officials and agencies from associating with businesses that are ditching fossil fuels or considering climate change as a factor in their investments and/or withholding their funds from manufacturers of guns and ammunition.
At least 10 such “boycott” measures have already been filed in Oklahoma for consideration during the four-month legislative session that starts Feb. 6.
• House Bills 1947 and 2340 are nearly identical measures which provide that, as a general rule, “A governmental entity may not enter into a contract with a company for goods or services unless the contract contains written verification from the company that it (a) does not engage in economic boycotts and (b) will not engage in any during the term of the contract.
The legislation contends, “Numerous essential American industries – including fossil fuel production, agriculture, timber production, and firearms – are being targeted for boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning by large corporations and public and private institutional investors.” The goal of these “colluding parties” is to “starve targeted legal industries of capital, restrict their productivity, and redirect that capital to favored industries.”
HB 1947 was introduced by House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and HB 2340 was filed by Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore.
• House Bill 2212 decrees that no bank or trust company doing business in this state, either directly or through the use of an outside contractor, “shall discriminate against, advocate for, or cause adverse treatment of any individual, business, or other customer based on subjective or arbitrary standards, including, but not limited to social media posts; participation or membership in any club, association, or union; political affiliation; employer; social credit score; environmental, social and governance criteria; or other similar values-based or impact criteria.”
Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, is the author of HB 2212.
• House Bill 2218 and Senate Bill 15 are nearly identical measures that would bar a governmental entity of the state from contracting with a company for the purchase of goods or services unless the agreement contains written verification that the company (1) does not have a practice, policy, guidance, or directive that discriminates against a firearm entity or firearm trade association; and (2) will not discriminate during the term of that contract.
Exceptions would be permitted for sole-source contracts or when no bid is received from a company that “is able to provide the written verification” required by the proposed law.
The legislation stipulates that the proposed restriction would apply only to contracts that are between a governmental entity and a company with at least 10 full-time employees, and that have a value of at least $100,000 paid entirely or in part with public funds.
Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, is the author of SB 15; Rep. West is the author of HB 2218.
• House Bills 2545 and 2777 are virtually identical bills mandating that a fiduciary’s evaluation of an investment by any state pension plan established or maintained by the state, or by any county or municipality or any school, college or university in Oklahoma, “must take into account only pecuniary factors.”
Plan fiduciaries would not be allowed to “promote non-pecuniary benefits or any other non-pecuniary goals.” Environmental, social and corporate governance, or other similarly oriented considerations, would be considered pecuniary factors “only if they present economic risks or opportunities that qualified investment professionals would treat as material economic considerations under generally accepted investment theories.”
Rep. Terry O’Donnell, R-Catoosa, filed HB 2545, and Speaker McCall filed HB 2777.
• Use of environmental, social and governance criteria “or economically targeted investment requirements” would be prohibited at virtually all levels by Senate Bill 974, authored by Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee.
Further, no governmental entity, including the state of Oklahoma, any state agency, political subdivision, trust, committee or commission of any political subdivision of this state – as well as any business operating in or any resident of Oklahoma, or any individual within the boundaries of this state – “shall use, promote, enforce, provide data for use in, or otherwise participate in the creation or use of ESG or ETI policies related to hiring, firing and evaluation of employees.”
• Senate Bill 469 would direct all institutions of higher education in Oklahoma to prepare a list of financial companies that boycott energy companies and to notify those institutions in writing that they could be subject to divestment by the state of Oklahoma or the college/university.
If the financial company refused to relax its policies, the state governmental or higher education entity would be required to “redeem, divest or withdraw” all publicly traded securities, with but a few exceptions.
SB 469 was introduced by Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle.
• Senate Bill 997, by Jett, mandates that no commercial paper could be purchased from any corporation or subsidiary that is based in a communist country.
“In no circumstance shall investments be made in ‘bonds, notes, debentures, or any similar obligations of a foreign government’ that is (a) identified by the U.S. State Department as ‘a state sponsor of terrorism’; (b) is ‘an authoritarian or totalitarian government, the sovereign powers of which are exercised through a single person or group of persons who are not elected by any form of legitimate popular voting’; or (c) is ‘a communist government.’”