"The suit challenges a measure that prohibits state entities like retirement funds from doing business with firms that “boycott energy companies.”"

"A liberal business group sued Texas officials this week in a major challenge to a 2021 law that bars state entities from doing business with investment firms that the state comptroller says are boycotting energy companies.

The suit, filed by the American Sustainable Business Council in United States District Court in Austin, argues that the law violates the First Amendment because it prohibits doing business with firms on the basis of their “actual or perceived” political views on fossil fuels.

The law prohibits state entities like retirement funds from placing investments with firms it says have enacted boycotts by including environmental principles in their investment strategies. Twenty states have passed such laws in recent years, according to a tally by Pleiades Strategy, a policy research group."

Karen Zraick reports for the New York Times Sept. 3, 2024. [2]