Treasurer Beadle thanks Legislature for taking a stand against ESG Investing

With a 89-1 vote in the House and a 44-3 vote in the Senate, the North Dakota Legislature has passed HB 1429 to ensure that Investment Advisors doing business with North Dakota avoid using scam principles of ESG and instead focus on maximizing shareholder value.

This bill expands upon legislation passed in 2021 by Senator Jessica Bell that created NDCC 21-10-08.1 which prohibited Social Investing. The 2023 legislative assembly expanded that prohibition to fully cover Environmental, Social and Governance Impact criteria (ESG) and reiterated that the focus should remain on maximizing return instead of attaining any other political effect.

In addition, this new language clarifies rules on Proxy Voting to ensure that firms are compliant with our ESG prohibition, and expands the ESG prohibition to also protect insurance customers as well.

“I’m very pleased with the ND Legislature for acting on this issue. International headwinds against our Energy and Agriculture industries are picking up, and we need to ensure that our investment dollars are not being manipulated to work against our industries here at home, or the retirees that depend on our pension funds for their well being.” Treasurer Beadle said.

Read the bill in full here:

https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0990-05000.pdf