I pen this piece with trepidation but overwhelmed by inspiration.

Signed Robert G. Eccles

Date May 29, 2023

“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”

– Walt Disney

Film producer and cartoonist Walt Disney with a toy Donald Duck reading Alice in Wonderland, 1951. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Walt Disney certainly got it right about Florida’s House Bill 3 (HB 3) “An act relating to government and corporate activism” which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law on May 2, 2023. A hard hitting press release stated that “Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed comprehensive legislation to protect Floridians from the corporatist environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movement — a worldwide effort to inject woke political ideology across the financial sector, placing politics above the fiduciary duty to make the best financial decisions for beneficiaries.”

Included in the visually compelling press release are eye catching images (please check them out for their full impact). One warns that “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment practices prioritize woke ideals and virtue signaling over commonsense investment practices.” But never fear! Governor DeSantis has a firm “commitment to put people before corporate elites and protect their money” by assuring that Florida is a “Government of Laws: Not Woke Politics.”

Who could ask for more in an anti-ESG bill 🐥? As Mr. Disney noted, “Whatever you do, do it well.” I think it’s fair to say that despite the little kerfuffle going on now between the Governor and the Disney company, Mr. DeSantis has made Florida the Magic Kingdom for driving ESG and wokeness out of the United States of America.

Invoking Mr. Disney again (“Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again…”) HB 3 caught the attention of Leah Malone and Emily B. Holland of the law firm Simpson Thatcher and Bartlett who wrote that “Florida Passes Farthest-Reaching Anti-ESG Bill to Date.” Their piece was published just two days ago but it got MY attention and again Mr. Disney nailed it by saying “and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”

There is so much exciting activity going on in the ESG Culture Wars with all the Red state legislation being passed (or not) and the recent House Hearing on ESG (which I have written about from the perspective of the witnesses and the Representatives) that it’s been hard for me to keep up with all the fun. Thus I haven’t had time to read the 51-page Florida HB 3. Since I’m writing over Memorial Day Weekend, I really don’t want to take the time to do so. Thus the analysis of Mss. Malone and Holland is very helpful for me. They expertly summarize the bill in terms of seven key provisions: (1) Definition of “pecuniary factors,” (2) Retirement system assets investment restriction, (3) Proxy voting restriction and reporting, (4) Qualified public depositories, (5) Investment of trust funds, (6) Government contracting, and (7) Additional provisions unique to HB 3. For each aspect they summarize the point and note states where the Florida provision is more or less restrictive.

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