Money Managers Raise Alarms Over Anti-ESG Crusade in GOP States

The Republican Party’s crusade against ESG investments is fracturing after pension-fund managers and budget watchdogs in several states denounced proposals that came with hefty price tags for retirees and taxpayers.

In a rebuke to a movement that’s taken hold in conservative strongholds like Texas and Florida, legislators in the GOP-controlled statehouses of Kansas, Wyoming, North Dakota and Indiana killed or significantly watered down bills that would limit so-called environmental, social and governance investing practices or force governments to sever business relationships with Wall Street firms that espouse the policies.

Details vary state by state, but broadly speaking lawmakers who nixed the plans cited the costs ...