GOP lawmakers want to ban compliance with UN, World Economic Forum goals for sustainability

The United Nations headquarters stands in Manhattan on Sept. 19, 2019, in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives are passionate about their desire not to eat bugs. Not that anyone was planning to force them. 

Nevertheless, they voted this week to ban governmental entities in Arizona from enacting any portion of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, as well as a long list of other initiatives promoted by the World Economic Forum that are aimed at sustainability. Both pieces of proposed legislation are based on conspiracy theories that accuse “globalists” of using these international nongovernmental organizations in an attempt to control the world’s populace. 

The United States signed onto the UN’s 2030 Agenda back in 2015, along with the organization’s other 192 member states, but each country is tasked with implementing policies aimed at reaching those goals within its own borders. The UN has no way to force its members to take any action. 

House Bill 2788, sponsored by Rep. Rachel Jones, R-Tucson, which would ban Arizona governments from enacting any portion of the UN’s 2030 Agenda, passed through the House Feb. 28 by a party-line vote of 31-28. 

The 2030 Agenda includes goals like ending poverty and hunger, protecting the planet from degradation through sustainable consumption and fostering peaceful, inclusive societies. 

There are a multitude of programs at all levels of government in Arizona that are aimed at reducing poverty and hunger, improving public health, promoting economic development and combating climate change — all goals of the 2030 Agenda. All of those efforts would ostensibly be illegal if HB2788 becomes law.

Jones told the House Government Committee on Feb. 15 that these global organizations want to limit the consumption of meat in the U.S. and to replace that protein with bugs instead. 

A related piece of legislation, House Concurrent Resolution 2040, also passed through the House of Representatives this week with only Republican support. The resolution would ask voters to bar public monies from being spent on a list of World Economic Forum initiatives, including reducing the production or consumption of meat and replacing it with insects, an idea that the WEF has floated as an idea to help address food insecurity across the globe. 

The WEF, an international organization that brings together heads of nations and businesses and other leaders in an effort to shape global and regional agendas, has no enforcement power in the United States and has never sought to force governments to replace meat consumption with insects. 

There have been conspiracy theories surrounding the WEF, its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and its work for many years. But those expanded in 2020, when the theme of the nonprofit’s annual meeting was “The Great Reset,” with the goal of making broad changes to society to recover from the pandemic and increase sustainability. 

And since then, conspiracy theorists have used the term The Great Reset to describe what they believe is an attempt by national governments and “globalist” organizations to control citizens and take away individual sovereignty. 

Merissa Hamilton, a conservative political operative, proposed House Concurrent Resolution 2040 to its sponsor, Rep. Austin Smith, a Republican from Wittman. 

Hamilton, who commonly posts or shares misinformation on social media, told lawmakers on the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee on Feb. 14 that cities in Arizona are already spending money on items from the WEF agenda, using Phoenix’s designation as a “C40” city as an example. C40 cities are a network of nearly 100 mayors who lead large cities across the globe and have committed to cutting their share of greenhouse emissions by 2030. 

Hamilton told lawmakers that residents of Arizona should have a say in whether municipalities adopt any of these initiatives. 

“This is a huge way of life change that is being promoted and proposed,” Hamilton said. 

Arizona cities are all led by elected city councils, whose members are accountable to the voters they represent.

If voters approve it, the resolution would ban public spending on things like reducing or replacing motor vehicle travel with walking or biking; limiting the number of items of clothing a person can purchase or own; furthering Marxist ideologies; or reducing greenhouse gas emissions, among other things. 

Democratic Rep. Melody Hernandez, of Tempe, couldn’t contain her laughter, giggling as she read through the resolution during the committee meeting, and she questioned if any government bodies in Arizona were actually trying to put a limit on the number of items of clothing people can own. 

No local governments have done so, or indicate that they plan to, and it’s unclear how they would possibly enforce such a law. 

Hernandez added that she believes it would be better for voters to decide individually which items on the list they support and those they don’t, instead of banning a lengthy list of sustainability initiatives that some of the cities might be interested in implementing. 

Rep. Cesar Aguilar, D-Phoenix, agreed, pointing out that the resolution would tie the hands of cities whose citizens want more public transportation options to reduce greenhouse gasses or who would like to make their neighborhoods more walkable. 

Smith said that the resolution would allow voters to tell cities they don’t want the U.S. to reduce its beef and dairy production, as recommended by the WEF, and that it would stop the push for “15-minute cities.” 

The urban planning concept of 15-minute cities is meant to ensure no one in a city has to travel more than 15 minutes for essential services, but since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were implemented in 2020, it turned into a boogeyman for the far right, with conspiracy theories that the idea is actually part of a global plot to allow governments to control their populations. 

Jones mentioned that conspiracy theory during a Feb. 15 discussion on her bill, saying that the UN’s “globalist agenda” was threatening state and national sovereignty. 

“A lot of it is about, basically, controlling citizens,” she said.

This isn’t the first time that Arizona’s legislature has attempted to stop entities in the state from following the UN’s agenda. In 2012, the state Senate passed a bill that would have banned cities and towns from implementing its Agenda 21 — a list of principles of sustainable development that conspiracy theorists seized on as the first steps in creating a one-world government. 

That bill never became law. 

Democratic Rep. Betty Villegas, of Tucson, said before the vote on Feb. 28 that Pima County was already working to address some of the issues mentioned in the UN and WEF initiatives, with its own Pima Prosperity Initiative, and worried that the legislation could get in the way of that. 

“We need to think about what we are doing here,” she said. “I think we can all agree that what has been done to end poverty on both sides of the aisle hasn’t worked. We can and must do better.” 

She added that Jones’ bill could tie the hands of those trying to address pressing issues in their communities.

“We should be open to look at all available resources to find solutions to make our city, our state and our entire world better,” she said.  

The bill and the resolution will both next move to the Senate for consideration, but even if they are approved, they will almost certainly meet their end with a veto from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. 

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