“Woke Baby” is among the book titles in the baby section of a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Boca Raton, Florida, in May 2021. (Video screenshot)
By Mary Lou Masters
Daily Caller News Foundation
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Tuesday to combat environmental, social and governance (ESG) from infiltrating the state’s financial businesses, according to a press release.
House Bill 3 holds that state and local financial decisions must be based solely on monetary factors, and not by way of ESG standards, which “inject[s] woke political ideology across the financial sector, placing politics above the fiduciary duty to make the best financial decisions for beneficiaries,” according to the press release. DeSantis enacted the law, protecting Floridians from “woke ideology” in the banking industry to ensure they won’t be denied loans based on ESG criteria.
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“In Florida and across the nation, we’ve heard from law-abiding small business owners and consumers who’ve been denied access to financial services because of where they work or what they believe in,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Through this legislation, Florida will continue to lead the nation against big banks and corporate activists who’ve colluded to inject woke ideology into the global marketplace, regardless of the financial interests of beneficiaries.”
The legislation prohibits state and local governments from considering ESG factors when issuing bonds, disincentivizes banks from taking part in “corporate activism,” bars financial institutions from consulting “Social Credit Scores” when issuing loans and discriminating against customers for their political, religious or social ideology, according to the press release.
“Corporations have no right to bypass our democratic process. Companies that engage in ESG hurt their customers and the communities they serve, including Florida’s retirees, by making everything they produce more expensive,” Republican state House Speaker Paul Renner said in a statement. “ESG undermines our national security and bypasses our democratic process. I applaud Governor DeSantis for standing up to corporate titans who believe they are a law unto themselves and protecting Florida’s hardworking families.”
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The governor led an 18-state alliance back in March that drew on initiatives from the then-proposed legislation to combat “woke” investment policies; the bill will “serve as a blueprint” for the other states to enact similar legislation, according to the press release.
Along with Florida, the Republican governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming signed on to protect “Americans’ financial freedom.”
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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