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Article taken from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
At the same time that the federal government, through the US Department of Labor, appears to be easing retirement plan fiduciaries’ paths to considering certain environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions, some states are passing legislation that would prohibit the states from doing business with managers who invest based on ESG criteria. These anti-ESG state legislative efforts could complicate the use of ESG by public retirement plans and put retirement plan fiduciaries and providers of retirement plan investment products in a tricky spot, looking to bridge their fiduciary obligations with these new limitations. These legislative activities could also create challenges for investment providers seeking to simultaneously serve both public and private retirement plans.
