STATES OF PLAY: Oklahoma’s Anti-ESG Fight Tests ‘Arbitrary’ State Laws

Welcome to States of Play

Oklahoma‘s ESG law requiring government entities to divest from companies deemed to boycott the oil and gas industry is facing a legal challenge that could be the first to test arguments that the measures are confusing to implement and will financially harm public pensioners. New York, Florida, and Wisconsin are among several states that will consider legislation in 2024 restricting the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns as experts warn about a flood of misinformation affecting elections.

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Editor’s note: States of Play will publish next on Dec. 27. We’ll resume our regular schedule Jan. 2.

ESG

A lawsuit by a retired public employee alleges the 2022 Oklahoma anti-ESG law has resulted in pension funds being used for “political warfare” in violation of the state constitution. Developments in that case as well as one in Tennessee could guide how other states consider such anti-boycott bills. Measures already filed in Missouri and Wisconsin legislatures propose similar policies. (Bloomberg Government)

New York regulators want the banks they oversee to incorporate climate change into their risk management efforts, including assessing how the lenders would perform in extreme weather scenarios. Banks will be encouraged to weigh the physical risks of climate change to their facilities, as well as to mortgages and other loans they issue. (Bloomberg Government)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Five states have so far banned AI election deepfakes. If the pending measures in New York, Wisconsin, and five others are enacted, roughly half of US would be covered by such measures. Measures pending in those seven states to ban the use of AI in political campaigns come as experts warn about a flood of misinformation affecting elections. (Bloomberg Government)

Florida lawmakers are considering AI measures target potential defamation of people using AI in media, use of the technology in political advertising, and the creation of a state council that would look at potential legislative reforms. (WMNF)

LABOR & EMPLOYMENT

New York Senate leaders have offered to exempt workers earning more than $300,000 annually from a measure banning non-compete clauses in employment contracts that currently sits on the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). Hochul has to either sign or veto the measure by Saturday. Both houses of the legislature would have to approve any deal early next year in exchange for Hochul signing the bill that passed the legislature in June. (Bloomberg Government)

The new chair of the California Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment says she wants to bolster enforcement of the state’s employment laws—pointing to recent child labor cases in agriculture and fast food—and will find ways to do it even as the legislature faces a $68 billion budget deficit. (Bloomberg Government)

BUDGET & TAX

New Hampshire lawmakers are preparing a plan creating a mandatory worldwide reporting system that would calculate a business’s taxes based on global income attributable to a particular jurisdiction—permitting the state to reach beyond US borders. Similar legislation is expected in Vermont and Minnesota. (Bloomberg Government)

The New Jersey Assembly approved a bill that makes it easier for businesses to continue qualifying for state tax incentives with fewer people heading into the office. Tax incentive programs created before the pandemic that required full-time employees to spend at least 80% of their time at their workplace will remain on the shelf—at least through March 2024. (Bloomberg Government)

Supporters of an effort to repeal several tax laws in Washington reported progress toward qualifying their initiatives for consideration in 2024. Let’s Go Washington, the group funded by Republican megadonor Brian Heywood, turned in thousands of signatures this week, delivering petitions to repeal the state’s new capital gains tax. The group also delivered petitions to ban local governments and the state legislature from creating income taxes. (Crosscut)

We’re still waiting for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision on a first-in-the-nation proposed law that would require the owners behind limited liability companies to be identified.

ABORTION

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador (R) asked a federal appeals court to dismiss a challenge to the state’s law that makes it a crime to help underage people travel to get abortions without their parents’ consent, saying he’s immune from the suit, and the reproductive rights advocates who brought the action failed to show an injury. (Bloomberg Government)

GUNS

A Massachusetts law prohibiting the possession and sale of some semiautomatic weapons commonly used in mass shootings is acceptable under a recent change to Second Amendment precedent from the US Supreme Court, a federal judge said. (Bloomberg Government)

REDISTRICTING

Michigan’s state House and Senate maps were tossed as racial gerrymanders, a first-of-its-kind loss for a state redistricting commission and a major blow to Democrats’ chances to maintain control of the state legislature. (Bloomberg Government)