Business backlash pushing GOP to weaken anti-ESG proposals

By JOHN HANNA and TOM DAVIES
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans who want to thwart socially and environmentally conscious investing are now being pushed to water down their proposals by backlash from powerful business groups and fears that state pension systems could see huge losses. In both Kansas and Indiana bankers associations and state chambers of commerce criticized the strongest versions of anti-ESG legislation before each state’s Republican-controlled legislature as anti-free market. ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. In Kansas, opposition from business groups prompted a Senate committee’s chair to drop the toughest version of the bill before hearings began this week. In Indiana, supporters rewrote a House bill before the chamber passed it.