Republican State Treasurer Allison Ball said, "For many years, pension investments were about maximizing returns. Recently, however, there has been a destructive shift in investment methodology to use the savings of Americans as financial muscle to push ideological causes through the ESG movement." The new law requires pension fiduciaries to base investment decisions solely on financial metrics, not politics.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has signed into law a measure that requires the state's public pension funds to make investment decisions on financial risks and returns, rather than environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

Beshear signed House Bill 236 into law on March 24, mandating the state's fiduciaries to solely consider factors that have a "direct and material connection to the financial risk or financial return of an investment," according to the language of the bill.

It bans actions on "nonpecuniary interests," including "environmental, social, political, or ideological interest" without a connection to the financial performance of an asset.

State Treasurer Allison Ball, a Republican, touted the new law, saying "Kentucky now has the strongest anti-ESG legislation in the nation," Just the News reported on March 28.