West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice this week signed into law a bill that prohibits the state's investment boards from casting proxy votes based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
The legislation, which was crafted by West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, would mandate that the boards that manage the state's public pension and investment funds cast their proxy votes based only on the financial interests of the taxpayers and pensioners.
"West Virginia is once again leading the way to fight back against woke activists who want to use our state investments and retiree pension dollars to advance extreme political and social agendas that go against the best financial interests of our citizens," Moore said in a statement.
He added, "President [Joe] Biden and progressive leaders know they can't get their radical environmental and social agenda passed through Congress, so they've outsourced its implementation to their allies on Wall Street — and this new Department of Labor rule will open the floodgates to these command-and-control economic tactics. This is why the states must stand up and take the lead to fight against this undemocratic, anti-American agenda."
Biden recently vetoed a bill that passed Congress which would have reinstated rules against ESG investing for retirement funds, his first veto since taking office.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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