Gov. Little calls on Biden to rescind unprecedented climate disclosure proposal

Tuesday May 31, 2022

Boise, Idaho – Governor Brad Little and 15 other governors issued a joint letter today to President Joe Biden and Chairman Gary Gensler of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressing their concern with the SEC Climate Disclosure Proposal that would force publicly traded companies to disclose climate-change risks and greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposed rule would harm businesses and investors by increasing compliance costs and by embellishing disclosure statements with information that the federal government and the SEC are not equipped to evaluate.

The governors warn the proposed rule is just another example of federal overreach by the Biden administration and urge the SEC to withdraw the proposed rule.

Amid skyrocketing inflation and an American energy crisis, Governor Little and other governors continue to fight regulations that increase costs and mandates on their states’ businesses and people.

Signatories to the letter include: Governors Brad Little (ID), Spencer Cox (UT), Kay Ivey (AL), Mike Dunleavy (AK), Doug Ducey (AZ), Asa Hutchinson (AR), Kim Reynolds (IA), Tate Reeves (MS), Mike Parson (MO), Greg Gianforte (MT), Pete Ricketts (NE), Doug Burgum (ND), Kevin Stitt (OK), Kristi Noem (SD), Greg Abbott (TX), and Mark Gordon (WY).

Portions of the letter are included below:

"On March 21, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule that would compel publicly traded companies to make detailed disclosures about climate-change risks and greenhouse gas emissions. As governors, we are deeply concerned your proposed rule veers far outside the SEC’s authority as a federal agency...
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"The unprecedented level of federal overreach makes your proposed rule an especially dangerous step. The SEC’s congressionally directed mission is to protect investors, facilitate capital formation, and maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets. The proposed rule degrades and undermines that mission by injecting subjective political judgments on climate policy into corporate disclosures, in a manner calculated to harm the states that provide for America’s energy security.
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"The approach in the proposed rule is especially foolish at a time when the cost of energy, and everything that depends on energy, has skyrocketed. Americans are struggling to pay their bills during the worst inflation in decades, and they expect their federal leaders to do everything possible to bring down prices, not place additional burdens on businesses and increase the uncertainty they face."

View the signed joint letter here.

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