Texas AG Threatens To Sue California For Asking Insurers To Disclose Fossil Fuels Investments

AUSTIN — With a thinly veiled threat to sue, Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday joined 11 other states in demanding the California insurance commissioner stop asking insurers to publicly disclose investments in fossil fuels and signing a pledge to divest from coal industry interests.

“The threats made by the California Insurance Commissioner will hurt families, businesses and insurance carriers across the nation,” Paxton said in a statement. “These requirements are misguided, unrelated to insurance regulation, and are clearly politically driven. We will not stand by while negligent, politically motivated requirements harm the livelihood of thousands of U.S. citizens.”

As the threat of climate change and man-made damage to the planet has reached near-universal agreement of scientists as real phenomena, California Insurance Commissioner David Jones has taken to asking insurance companies doing business in his state to disclose their investments.

The effort is to discern which insurers invest in companies dealing with fossil fuels, but some see something more sinister at play: "Commissioner Jones is also requiring insurance companies to disclose investments in oil, gas and coal," Paxton explained in his news advisory. "The financial disclosures and decisions on whether to sign the “pledge” are then made public on the California Insurance Department’s website.

Well, yes, but Jones' efforts aren't politically based per se, but rooted on broader efforts in California to reduce the state's carbon footprint and reliance on traditional energy sources. In announcing his effort to ask insurers to divulge their financial interests in fossil fuels, Jones expounded on his motivation in January 2016.

“California is in the process of de-carbonizing its economy and transitioning to clean, pollution free energy resources," Jones explained in a news advisory. "By divesting in thermal coal, not only will insurance companies help reduce the combustion of coal resources – the single largest contributor to global climate change in the United States, but it will help protect insurance companies from holding investments that at some time in the near future are likely to drop substantially in value, possibly weakening the financial strength of any company that continues to hold these investments.”

Paxton doesn't buy it, dismissing the effort as an act of pure partisanship. For added measure, he posited the California move as a job-killing one, although its unclear how that would come about.

This latest skirmish comes in an age where provable effects of climate science based on scientific data have somehow become political footballs pitting skeptical Republicans wary of the impact of scrutiny to business interests against Democrats expressing a more progressive need to explore alternative energy sources.

The list of other states urging the California insurance commissioner to stop asking companies to disclose their financial investments mirrors the political divide as it relates to climate change skepticism and support of unfettered fossil fuel exploration. Of the 11 states joining Texas in the complaint, all but three are run by Republican governors. But that, too, is deceiving.

Although led by a Democratic governor, post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana has become largely red given Republican majority among statewide officeholders. A sizable Democratic exodus after Hurricane Katrina never returned, opening the path for a conservative takeover of state offices. So while Louisiana—which also signed the letter—is led by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, its attorney general Jeff Landry, like Paxton, is a Republican.

Montana, also a signatory to the letter of complaint aimed at California, is a purple state despite having a Democratic governor in the form of Steve Bullock. Most of Montana's cities are dominated by Democrats, but the expansive rural areas of the state are solidly Republican. The attorney general in Montana—the guy who would write such letters of complaint like Paxton, purporting to represent all of Texas in his views—is also a Republican, Tim Fox.

The other state signing onto the complaint letter with a Democrat governor, West Virginia, also is staunchly conservative. Even while led by a Democrat (Jim Justice) as governor, the state also has a Republican attorney general in Patrick James Morrisey. Morrisey's own trajectory points to the growing Republican base, after becoming the first GOP member to serve at the state's attorney general since 1933.

The conservative dynamics of each state signatory to the letter of complaint suggests the political motivation for lodging the complaint against California. But while Paxton may disagree with the insurance commissioner's tactic, under what legal basis would he be able to sue in order to prevent another state from its own dealings?

The headline of Paxton's new advisory alerting to his signing on to complain leaves no room for misinterpretation that he would entertain the idea of suing California. Paxton has proved to be a prolific plaintiff, all but boasting of the many lawsuits he filed against the Obama administration over policies with ideological underpinning.

So the question was formally asked by Patch: Under what legal basis (or justification, for that matter) would Paxton sue the state of California over its own internal machinations? After all, Texas lawmakers (Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott in particular) are fond of speaking of Texas self-autonomy and sovereignty. Would Texas really file a lawsuit centered on California's own affairs after jealously guarding its own sovereignty?

Paxton spokeswoman Kayleigh Lovvorn—the person ostensibly tasked with answering reporters' questions (particularly, one might think, Texas-based journalists covering Texas matters)—punted our questions, all the way to Oklahoma.

"Thank you for reaching out to us," Lovvorn begins politely enough in her emailed reply. "The letter attached to the press release speaks for itself. I recommend reaching out to Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, the letter’s author, for further comment."

Along with Paxton, the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming and the governor of Kentucky, signed the letter.

To view the full letter, click here. As Lovvorn said, it pretty much speaks for itself.

>>> Official photo of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton via State of Texas