The House of Representatives passed two bills opposing ESG on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19. HR 5339 would require fiduciaries to make investment decisions based on financial factors. HR 4790 proposed limiting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate risk disclosure requirements:
On Wednesday, the House passed HR 5339, which would revert a retirement plan rule back to standards passed by the Trump administration, “requir[ing] fiduciaries of employer-sponsored retirement plans to make investment decisions based only on pecuniary factors.” However, it would also allow “nonpecuniary factors to be considered in certain situations, such as when selecting investment options for certain participant-directed retirement plans or if the fiduciary is unable to distinguish between investment alternatives based on pecuniary factors alone,” according to the bill summary. That legislation also has other anti-ESG proposals folded into it, including one that could limit retirement plan fiduciaries from supporting specific issues in proxy votes.
