Ron DeSantis Announces Moves to Regulate ‘Woke CEOs’ and Stop ‘Ideological Corporate Power’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announced a new legislative proposal and administrative actions on Wednesday aimed at stopping “woke CEOs” from imposing what he described as their radical agenda on Florida.

“Do we govern ourselves through our constitution and through our elections or do we have these masters of the universe occupying these commanding heights of society?” DeSantis raged at a press conference announcing the move.

“For every master of the universe who’s prattling on about, you know, no emissions and all this stuff, I don’t see very many of them giving up their private jets,” he continued.

According to local media, DeSantis’ legislation will have three main components:

Prohibit big banks, credit card companies, and money transmitters from discriminating against customers for their religious, political, or social beliefs.

Prohibit State Board of Administration (SBA) fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing the state’s money.

Require SBA fund managers to only consider maximizing the return on investment on behalf of Florida’s retirees.

DeSantis, speaking in front of a banner that read, “Government of Laws, Not Woke CEOs,” argued that the strength of the American economy is under threat from the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movement.

DeSantis also announced administrative actions that would prevent the State Board of Administration, which manages Florida’s pension funds, to use “political factors” and focus only on “maximizing the return on investment” in all decisions regarding the funds.

“The leveraging of corporate power to impose an ideological agenda on society represents an alarming trend,” said DeSantis, who has been accused of First Amendment violations from within his own party for punishing Disney for taking a political stand.

“Now he wants to criticize Disney for expressing how they feel about that bill,” Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) said in April. “They have every right to, we have a thing called freedom of speech and they can come out say what they think.”

“From Wall Street banks to massive asset managers and big tech companies, we have seen the corporate elite use their economic power to impose policies on the country that they could not achieve at the ballot box,” DeSantis added during the speech.

“Through the actions I announced today, we are protecting Floridians from woke capital and asserting the authority of our constitutional system over ideological corporate power,” he concluded.

Gov. Ron DeSantis slams “woke capital” and ESG: “For every master of the universe who’s prattling on about, you know, no emissions and all this stuff, I don’t see very many of them giving up their private jets.” pic.twitter.com/iDy7wsziLv

— Forbes (@Forbes) July 27, 2022

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