A bill in the Oklahoma Legislature to amend the state’s three-year-old anti-ESG law died last week after criticism that it would water down efforts to avoid public investments in companies boycotting oil and gas companies.
ESG is an acronym for environmental, social, and governance-based investing. Oklahoma’s 2022 Energy Discrimination Elimination Act bans state investments with companies that boycott or penalize energy companies for lawful action.
The Oklahoma Senate Energy Committee had advanced SB 714, sponsored by state Sen. Dave Rader, a Republican. Speaker Pro Temp Anthony Moore, also a Republican, sponsored a House version.
But state GOP lawmakers were divided on the matter. The bill would have removed responsibility for enforcing the law—that deals with pension investments—from the state treasurer’s office to the state attorney general’s…
