A state Senate committee has issued a subpoena, requesting BlackRock Inc. to provide specific documents related to the world’s largest money manager’s environmental, social and governance practices and for its executives to testify.
The Committee is chaired by Senator Bryan Hughes and the hearing has been set for Dec. 15 in Marshall.
The Committee on State Affairs asked BlackRock last month to produce documents that will help legislators discuss what impacts ESG policies may have on Texans’ retirement savings, according to a statement Wednesday.
The committee also sent a request for at least one of six BlackRock executives, including Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink.
The subpoena is the latest escalation in a spat between Republican states and Wall Street’s biggest asset managers over their support of sustainable investing.
Last week, Florida announced it would pull about $2 billion from BlackRock, making it the sixth state to divest from the firm.
In Texas, the asset manager is already at risk of losing out on business after it was put on the state’s divestment list for so-called “boycotting” the oil and gas industry.
“We will not allow these firms to continue to use Texans’ money to force a narrow political agenda,” committee chair Bryan Hughes said in the release. “They have a legal duty to put their investors’ interests first, and we intend to make sure they do.”
BlackRock has said it doesn’t boycott energy firms and has a page on its website titled “Energy investing: Setting the record straight,” where the firm clarifies its focus on energy investing as well as how it considers climate risk.
The subpoena is part of a widening probe into the investment practices of finance firms that GOP leaders say are discriminatory and anti-fossil fuels.
In August, the committee sent letters to four firms — BlackRock, State Street Corp., Vanguard Group and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. — asking for documents and testimony from executives related to the companies investing and consulting practices and any impacts on state pensions.
Hughes said each firm has produced documents but that BlackRock withheld some information.
“BlackRock in particular has refused to provide documents it considers internal or confidential,” Hughes said in a statement this week. “Accordingly, we have issued a subpoena to BlackRock for the production of additional documents the committee needs to complete its work.”
BlackRock is required to send one of its executives to appear before the Dec. 15 committee hearing and produce documents, research and any communication related to ESG practices covering the period Nov. 1, 2019, to present, according to the subpoena.
Hughes has represented Marion County in the State Senate since 2017.
Prior to that, the Mineola native represented Camp, Harris, Upshur and Wood Counties in the State House of Representatives.
Considered one of the Senate’s most conservative members, Hughes introduced the Texas Heartbeat Bill (SB8) in March 2021.
The bill allowed private citizens to sue abortion providers after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The bill does not make an exception for rape, incest, or life of the mother.
The bill was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in may 2021.
It took effect last year.
Hughes’ other legislative attempts include a provision in a bill that would prohibit early voting on Sunday mornings and rolling back voting by mail
He once falsely claimed that Texas had 400 open voter fraud cases while the Texas Attorney General’s office only had 43 pending voter fraud cases— one of which was in relation to the 2020 election.
In 2021, Hughes also authored legislation to prevent public schools from requiring that students read writings by prominent civil rights figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr. when studying the American Civil Rights Movement.