The bill establishes regulations surrounding Environmental, Social Justice, or Governance (ESG) scores, empowering the Treasurer of State to divest from financial services providers that discriminate against energy companies or firearms entities based on ESG metrics. It introduces a new subchapter to the Arkansas Code, defining terms such as "discriminate," "financial services provider," and "public entity." The Treasurer is required to maintain a list of these providers and send written notices before their inclusion. The bill mandates that both the state and public entities must divest from listed providers within specified timeframes—retirement holdings within 365 days and all other holdings within 60 days—while ensuring that compliance does not create liability for investment advisors or public entities.
Additionally, the bill creates an ESG Oversight Committee to identify discriminatory financial services providers, consisting of appointees from various state officials. This committee must provide a list of such providers to public entities within 90 days of its formation and can be reestablished by the Governor if necessary. The bill also includes provisions to protect financial services providers from disclosing confidential information and exempts certain investments from divestment if early divestment would result in financial penalties for the state.