HB2862 prohibits the West Virginia Investment Management Board and the Board of Treasury Investments, as well as their fiduciaries, from casting shareholder votes for the purpose of furthering “Environmental, social, corporate governance, or other similarly oriented considerations.”
The House passed HB2862 on March 1, 2023, by a vote of 73 to 23. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the State’s investment decisions should be based on the financial interests of West Virginian taxpayers and pensioners—not ‘woke’ ESG factors. As a political and ideological scam that seeks to proliferate worldwide, implement a ‘social credit’ rating system, and advance the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, the ESG movement rejects private property and freedom of association. Its radical proponents attempt to restrict free-market access to financial and other services by preventing both individuals and companies from entering into contracts voluntarily based on their own interests, which violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.