Wyoming

Wyoming has one main public pension administrator: the Wyoming Retirement System (WRS).

The WRS board represents all state and local public employees and consists of 11 members: 1 Ex Officio (State Treasurer); 10 appointed by the Governor (5 representing the community, 2 representing public employees, 1 representing higher education, 1 representing public schools, and 1 representing retirees).

The “By Asset Manager” and “Asset Manager Voting” tables show the proxy voting records of the state’s asset managers who manage the pensions’ stock market portfolio through index, exchange-traded, or mutual funds. Since these are externally managed funds, the asset managers typically retain and exercise proxy voting privileges. This data is used to calculate the state’s pro-ESG and anti-ESG scores to see how the state leverages its externally managed funds in proxy voting.

The “State Voting” table shows WRS’ proxy voting records for directly owned securities through pension fund portfolios. This data was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request since Wyoming does not publicly disclose this information to its pensioners. The 1792 Exchange encourages Wyoming to publish its proxy voting records instead of keeping its pensioners in the dark about how the state votes on ESG issues with their money.

Both tables are important to show a comprehensive picture of the state’s proxy voting record.

By Asset Manager

Harding Loevner Funds

Percentage of times Mgr. voted “for” pro-ESG proposals:

12%

Asset Manager Voting

Pro-ESG

13.8%

Anti-ESG

Anti-Fossil Fuels

28%

Anti-Pollution/Waste

50%

Animal Rights

DEI

50%

Weapons/Defense

Human Rights

Income Equality

Political Speech/Lobbying Spending

Health Care

Race/Gender targets on Boards

Non-Pecuinary Corporate Purpose

ESG-Focused Governance

Abortion

Pro-Fossil Fuel

Equality not DEI

Controversial Rivals/China

Geopolitical Rivals/China

State Voting