Kansas Anti-ESG Legislation Scales Back Resistance To 'Satan's Plan' For Investing

Just a hunch . . . 

Investment managers would rather have politicos and online rubes debating culture war than considering the ongoing inflation crisis that's sparking more than a few bank failures this year.

Check the cover story . . .

Last month, 19 GOP governors, including DeSantis and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, issued a joint statement calling ESG a “direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life.” And Utah’s Republican state treasurer told a GOP gathering that ESG “opens the door to authoritarianism” and is “Satan’s plan.”

Kansas state Sen. Mike Thompson, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican and chair of the Senate committee handling the legislation, backed the provisions on private managers and investments outside the U.S.

While he wouldn’t go as far as the governors or Utah treasurer, Thompson argued that pushing investors away from lumber, mining, agriculture or fossil fuel companies harms industries critical to the economy and hurts national security.

Still, most of the Kansas debate centered on whether investment earnings drop when managers use ESG principles.

Kansas State Treasurer Steven Johnson, who supports the bill, said: “We’re interested in the highest and best return for Kansas.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Kansas passes anti-ESG bill, but it's milder than some want

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A proposal designed to thwart investing that considers environmental, social and governance factors has cleared the Kansas Legislature, but divisions within its GOP majorities kept the measure from being as strong as some conservatives wanted.