Our Weekly Alert and Blog Summary for August 19, 2022
Saul Ewing LLP
AmLaw 200 firm with 18 offices and 450+ attorneys providing client-centric counsel across a variety of industries.
Recent Alerts
Energy and Utilities Practice; Environment and Natural Resources Practice
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he will push a bill in the next legislative session that would prevent State Board of Administration (SBA) fund managers from considering environmental social and governance (ESG) factors when investing the state’s money. Instead, the proposed bill would require SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment for Florida’s retirees. The proposed legislation would also amend Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices statute to prohibit discriminatory practices by large financial institutions based on ESG social credit score metrics, with violations considered to be deceptive and unfair trade practices punishable by law. Gov. DeSantis stated that the proposed legislation will “protect[] Floridians from woke capital and asserting the authority of our constitutional system over ideological corporate power.” With such legislation, Florida would join a growing list of states that have recently enacted or proposed anti-ESG legislation.
Public Finance Practice
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently clarified that private entities were not required to pay prevailing wage on projects funded via conduit financing when they use public authorities only as financing vehicles. Participants to conduit financings should be careful to structure their transactions so that no public entity disburses or holds project funds, bears any risk or obligation for the bonds, or has any ownership interest in the financed project.