The left loves federalism when it works for them (drugs, sanctuary cities, etc). But hates it otherwise.
Idaho legislators are readying bill to restrict environmental, social ratings in investments
Idaho Republican legislators and state officials are preparing bills for the upcoming 2023 legislative session that would be designed to further restrict using environmental, social and governance standards in public funding or investments.
The Idaho Legislature’s Joint Interim Committee on Federalism discussed legislation to limit or block environmental, social and governance, or ESG, standards during a meeting Monday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. The meeting was likely the final legislative meeting before a new crop of 39 first-time legislators are sworn in next week during the organizational session for the 2023 legislative session.
During Monday’s Committee on Federalism meeting, Rep. Baraba Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, described meeting with U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Idaho State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth, state Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, and state Sens. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, and Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, while drafting a bill.
Ehardt also said she has traveled to conferences to work on the bill. Members of the Committee on Federalism had previously met with the director of the Free Enterprise Project and a chief economist with the American Legislative Exchange Council about ESG in June. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a national membership group of legislators from different states dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism, according to its website. The American Legislative Exchange Council has become known for its success in sharing model legislation that can easily be cut and pasted and shared between different states.
Ehardt said the focus of the bill is primarily contracts and access to financial services.
“ESG is truly antithetical to our American way of life and to our constitution,” Ehardt said. “ESG is not free-market.”
Ellsworth told the Committee on Federalism that Ehardt shared draft legislation with her shortly after the 2022 legislative session ended. Ellsworth then took the draft to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office to align it with state laws on banking and investments.
Ehardt and Ellsworth said they are not looking to stop private businesses from investing the way they want to.
“Any legislation that I am working on deals with public monies,” Ellsworth told the committee. “This is an important concept and a very important distinction. This is not about the private sector. It’s about public monies. If you are going to be a credit union or bank that is seeking to do business with the state of Idaho … you cannot override for ESG purposes and boycott legal operating businesses in our state and still qualify as a depository for the state of Idaho.”
From the /IdahoCapitalSun.com