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Virginia

Virginia has one main public pension system: the Virginia Retirement System (VRS).

The VRS board represents public sector employees and consists of 9 members: 5 appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the General Assembly; 4 appointed by the Joint Rules Committee and confirmed by the General Assembly.

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 VRS’ proxy voting records for directly owned securities through pension fund portfolios. This data was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request since Virginia does not publicly disclose this information to its pensioners. The 1792 Exchange encourages Virginia 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

AQR Funds

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

82%

BlackRock Funds

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

7%

JPMorgan Funds

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

20%

PGIM Funds

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

42%

Blackstone Funds

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

84%

Baillie Gifford Funds

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

29%

LSV Funds

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

37%

Ariel Funds

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

21%

Asset Manager Voting

Pro-ESG

17.8%

Anti-ESG

2.2%

Anti-Fossil Fuels

26%

Anti-Pollution

21%

Animal Rights

6%

DEI

21%

Weapons/Defense

19%

Human Rights

28%

Income Equality

17%

Political Speech/Lobbying Spending

27%

Health Care

14%

Race/Gender targets on Boards

15%

Non-Pecuniary Corporate Purpose

22%

ESG-Focused Governance

19%

Abortion

14%

Pro-Fossil Fuel

3%

Equality not DEI

3%

Controversial Cause Support

2%

Geopolitical Rivals/China

3%

State Voting

Pro-ESG

45%

Anti-ESG

0%

Anti-Fossil Fuels

40%

Anti-Pollution/Waste

67%

Animal Rights

33%

DEI

30%

Weapons/Defense

0%

Human Rights

57%

Income Equality

43%

Political Speech/Lobbying Spending

71%

Health Care

17%

Race/Gender targets on Board

N/A

Non-Pecuniary Corporate Purpose

0%

ESG-Focused Governance

40%

Abortion

17%

Pro-Fossil Fuel

0%

Equality not DEI

0%

Controversial Cause Support

0%

Geopolitical Rivals/China

0%

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