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Some Oklahoma lawmakers are trying to change state rules that prohibit doing business with companies accused of boycotting the fossil fuel industry.
At least two of the dozens of bills pre-filed for the legislative session, which begins Feb. 5, seek to amend the Oklahoma Energy Desegregation Act. The 2022 law requires the state Treasury to compile a list of companies it believes are boycotting the fossil fuel industry.under law, the national pension system is required to sell retiree funds managed by blacklisted companies. State, county, and city governments are also not allowed. contract with those companies.
The law leaves it up to the Secretary of the Treasury to decide which financial companies will ultimately be placed on the state’s blacklist, but will focus on companies with environmental, social and governance investment vehicles. There is. Oklahoma’s law is mostly a verbatim copy of the law. texas state law A year ago passed.
frontier filed a May 2023 complaint alleging that the Oklahoma Department of Finance has not consistently applied the standards for blacklisting companies, resulting in some companies being arbitrarily and unfairly barred from doing business with the state. reported.
Oklahoma’s pension system said it has not received guidance on enforcing the law. Retirees could lose millions of dollars If the state completely withdraws from the blacklisted companies.At least one municipality said it needed to do so. pay higher interest Interest rate on new bonds.
The list is later cut out The number of companies will be reduced to six.
The law allows pension funds to request exemptions if divesting from a blacklisted company would be contrary to the best economic interests of state retirees. Russ acknowledged that some of the state’s pension systems may have to receive exemptions, but then criticized the Oklahoma Public Employees’ Retirement System for doing so.Russ’s office afterwards I also received an exemption It was exempted from the law to continue doing business with Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Ahead of the upcoming legislative session, Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, made the following submission: Senate Bill 1536It would require the state Treasury to consult the state attorney general if it disagrees with a state agency’s decision to continue doing business with a blacklisted company.
Rader said the idea is to have a third party arbitrate disagreements between the Treasury Department and state agencies over how the law should be applied. The bill grew out of an interim review of the Energy Desegregation Act that took place at the Oklahoma State Capitol in October.
“There appears to have been some confusion regarding the meaning and implementation of the bill,” Rader said. “One of the things we found from the investigation was that there was no clear person or process to determine whether the law was being followed. They may not match.
“For me, this was one of the most obvious needs that came out of the research,” he said.
Senate Bill 1510 Sen. Chuck Hall (R-Perry) would exempt cities and counties from the law. Hall, who is also CEO and chairman of Perry-based lender Exchange Bank & Trust Co., did not respond to phone messages at his office.
Mr. Russ’ chief of staff, Jordan Harvey, said the Treasury Department was watching the bill closely, but declined to comment on whether the Treasury would support or oppose the bill.
Two other bills introduced last year related to the Energy Desegregation Act did not pass, but they still stand. Senate Bill 469 and Senate Bill 470, both by Sen. Ronnie Paxton, R-Tuttle. Senate Bill 469 would extend the Energy Descrimination Act’s prohibitions to state universities, and Senate Bill 470 would require financial companies to restrict retirees and beneficiaries from participating in shareholder votes on behalf of public retirement funds. This obliges them to act with economic interests as their top priority. .
The deadline for submitting the bill to Congress is January 18th.
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