| 1 | 1 | | 88R10397 BPG-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Oliverson H.C.R. No. 38 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, Larry Fink, chief executive officer of investment |
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| 7 | 7 | | behemoth BlackRock, has become a suspiciously strident proponent of |
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| 8 | 8 | | Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance initiatives; and |
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| 9 | 9 | | WHEREAS, Under Mr. Fink's leadership, BlackRock has moved to |
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| 10 | 10 | | the vanguard of the ESG movement, investing on the basis of social |
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| 11 | 11 | | and environmental factors rather than pure fiduciary interests; and |
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| 12 | 12 | | WHEREAS, Mr. Fink has used BlackRock's financial might to |
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| 13 | 13 | | coerce companies to follow his liberal political agenda; touting |
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| 14 | 14 | | the doctrine of "stakeholder capitalism," he has warned companies |
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| 15 | 15 | | in which BlackRock invests that they must adopt ESG standards or |
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| 16 | 16 | | face pressure in proxy battles; for instance, BlackRock has used |
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| 17 | 17 | | the proxy votes of its clients to push its global warming agenda and |
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| 18 | 18 | | bolster renewable energy, often in conflict with its fiduciary |
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| 19 | 19 | | responsibilities; and |
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| 20 | 20 | | WHEREAS, While BlackRock demands unreasonable environmental |
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| 21 | 21 | | and social standards of U.S. companies, imposing enormous |
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| 22 | 22 | | extra-regulatory costs, it fails to require similar ESG adherence |
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| 23 | 23 | | by the Chinese companies in which it invests; the business sector in |
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| 24 | 24 | | Communist China has a deplorable record with respect to |
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| 25 | 25 | | environmental stewardship, justice, and accountable governance, |
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| 26 | 26 | | with a severe lack of the basic auditing safeguards required in the |
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| 27 | 27 | | U.S.; notably, BlackRock became an investor in two Chinese |
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| 28 | 28 | | companies, Hikvision and iFlytek, that the United States government |
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| 29 | 29 | | has blacklisted for human rights abuses against Uyghurs in |
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| 30 | 30 | | Xinjiang; BlackRock actually increased its holding in Hikvision |
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| 31 | 31 | | after the blacklisting; and |
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| 32 | 32 | | WHEREAS, BlackRock manages an estimated $10 trillion in |
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| 33 | 33 | | assets, a number larger than many first-world economies; billions |
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| 34 | 34 | | of those dollars come from U.S. pension funds, which play a vital |
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| 35 | 35 | | role in the financial security of the middle class and in the |
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| 36 | 36 | | stability of the U.S. economy; by prioritizing left-wing political |
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| 37 | 37 | | initiatives over shareholder returns, BlackRock is potentially |
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| 38 | 38 | | weakening those funds and sabotaging the American companies in |
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| 39 | 39 | | which it invests; now, therefore, be it |
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| 40 | 40 | | RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 41 | 41 | | hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to investigate |
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| 42 | 42 | | the anti-fiduciary practices of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, the |
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| 43 | 43 | | intent behind those practices, and their impact on American |
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| 44 | 44 | | companies and the U.S. economy; and, be it further |
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| 45 | 45 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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| 46 | 46 | | copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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| 47 | 47 | | the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the |
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| 48 | 48 | | Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the |
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| 49 | 49 | | Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution |
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| 50 | 50 | | be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to |
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| 51 | 51 | | the Congress of the United States of America. |
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