Photo: iStock Editorial
One of the many conservative bills that wonât be passed in Austin this session is a bill that would have cracked down on the use of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), which is essentially corporate DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), in Texas businesses. The bill was filed by State Rep. Brian Harrison.
It even managed to get a hearing in the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee, which is chaired by Representative Jeff Leach, whoâs butted heads with Rep. Harrison on multiple occasions throughout the legislative session.
Brandon Waltens with the Texas Scorecard says thatâs where the story ends. He said, "They voted the bill down. In fact, it was 9 to 1. You only had one Republican member voting for it, essentially killing it for the session."
Waltens went on to say that the bill would have been a major win for Texans invested in companies pushing ESG. He explained, "It would allow shareholders of companies to sue if those companies were implementing ESG policies in a way that wasnât in the companyâs best interest."
Publicly traded companies have a fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder value, and Waltens points out that oftentimes implementing ESG standards ends up hurting both the profits and overall value of the companies that subscribe to them.
Something like this should have been easy for the Republican-controlled Texas House to pass early in the session, but now itâs looking like there wonât be another opportunity to crack down on ESG in Texas for at least two more years, when the 90th session kicks off.
Waltens says this will "definitely be one of those issues where people look back and say, âWhy didnât the legislature do something about this?â" He thinks that the animosity between House leadership and Rep. Harrison likely played a role in the bill getting killed.