News/Commentary

DeSantis moves to stop woke corporations’ social and political agenda in biggest effort yet

February 21, 2023 | | Print Article

Justin Hawkins, the director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute, has written a compelling op-ed piece detailing how Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has launched his biggest effort to date to clamp down on woke corporations and social credit scoring.

His piece at Fox News starts by referring to legislation announced by DeSantis and state leaders that aims at curbing the politicization of corporations and the use of social credit scoring in banking and other financial services in Florida. If it becomes law, the legislation will become the most encompassing protection against woke corporations passed to date.

“Today’s announcement builds on my commitment to protect consumers’ investments and their ability to access financial services in the Free State of Florida,” DeSantis stated during a press conference. “By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda. Through this legislation, we will protect the investments of Floridians and the ability of Floridians to participate in the economy.”

“ESG” stands for “environmental, social, and governance” which is a form of social credit scoring that measures a company’s devotion to non-financial leftist political agendas.

Hawkins goes on to explain the inner workings of ESG in his piece.

“For example, the ESG ratings system favored by the World Economic Forum (WEF) — the organization that hosts a massive, infamous meeting of elites in Davos each year — evaluates companies in part on their ‘Percentage of employees per employee category, by age group, gender and other indicators of diversity (e.g. ethnicity),'” he notes.

“ESG ratings systems also reward companies that agree to promote a number of environmental causes, including battling climate change, and they typically punish businesses that use too much land or water. Businesses that agree to fund social justice initiatives are also rewarded under countless ESG schemes,” Hawkins continues in his expose.

He goes on to note that ESG is a part of the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” agenda.

“ESG was a significant part of the World Economic Forum’s 2020 “Great Reset” campaign, as well as countless other of its proposals aimed at ‘resetting’ the global economy and reimagining social contracts. And it’s a major reason why so many corporations in North America and Europe have started to embrace radical leftist ideas over the past decade,” Hawkins asserted.

The author points out in his opinion piece that millions of Americans have never even heard of ESG. Regardless of that fact, it is having a massive effect on businesses across the globe. He alludes to the fact that KPMG, one of the largest accounting firms in the world, is reporting that 96 percent of the 250 largest corporations in the Fortune 500 are already adhering to ESG guidelines.

“Banks and other financial services companies are particularly powerful forces in the ESG world. They have been caught using ESG and other sustainability metrics to target specific individuals, businesses, and industries, by denying banking products or services or rewarding companies that perform well on ESG ratings systems,” Hawkins writes.

He then expands on how DeSantis and other Florida leaders are squashing ESG in the state.

“Although the full details of the legislation proposed by DeSantis and leaders in the Florida State Legislature — including Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner — have not yet been publicly released, the outline made available shows that it would stop many of the most egregious uses of ESG in Florida. It would be a significant step toward protecting the rights of families and enhancing competition in the free market,” Hawkins contends.

The author goes on to refer to DeSantis’ press release on the legislation that “seeks to protect Floridians from the woke ESG financial scam,” by “Prohibiting big banks, trusts, and other financial institutions from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs — including their support for securing the border, owning a firearm, and increasing our energy independence.”

A flyer included in the press release proclaims, “Everyday Floridians invest their hard-earned money to maximize profits and generate the most return on investment possible, but fear of retribution by the woke mob has resulted in the rise of ‘ESG’ factors.”

The legislation also focuses on stopping “the financial sector from considering so-called ‘Social Credit Scores’ in banking and lending practices that aim to prevent Floridians from obtaining loans, lines of credit, and bank accounts.”

“Today’s announcement builds on my commitment to protect consumers’ investments and their ability to access financial services in the Free State of Florida,” DeSantis states in the press release. “By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda. Through this legislation, we will protect the investments of Floridians and the ability of Floridians to participate in the economy.”

He also said it would rein in woke overreach by “Prohibiting all state and local entities, including direct support organizations, from considering, giving preference to, or requesting information about ESG as part of the procurement and contracting process.”

Hawkins posits that the legislation “could spark a series of similar bills in states across the country, many of which have considered anti-ESG legislation over the past year but have failed to get comprehensive bills across the finish line.”

He believes that if the anti-ESG legislation can be successfully presented to voters it could change the entire approach across the country to woke overreach.

“Ron DeSantis and legislators in Florida working to stop the rise of ESG deserve immense credit for their heroic efforts. I hope lawmakers in other states are taking notice,” Hawkins concluded.

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

$10
$15
$25
$50
Other
$
Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles