Gadfly importance to democratic corporate governance is often underrated. We are currently under attack by the Business Roundtable (BRT) and others seeking to substantially raise the ownership threshold for submitting and resubmitting proposals. BRT, for example, contends proposals from small shareholder divert “significant time and resources to issues that, at best, have an attenuated connection to the […]
Investor Response to Chamber: Letter Representatives of hundreds of investors with trillions of dollars in assets delivered a letter to the SEC on November 9, 2017, An Investor response to U.S. Chamber’s Proposal to Revise SEC Rule 14a-8 (report). We noted with interest the November 1, 2017, guidance contained in Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I. […]
WD-40 win win is due to a shareholder proposal filed by James McRitchie and directors who want good corporate governance practices. Earlier this week, I reported that Broadridge amended its proxy proxy access bylaws to allow groups of 50 to nominate directors. Now WD-40 has filed bylaws to implement McRitchie’s proposal requesting that uncontested directors […]
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of institutional investors representing $200 billion in invested capital that engage corporations on the environmental and social impacts of their operations, sent a letter yesterday to all U.S. Senators urging them not to pass the Financial CHOICE Act. The proposed legislation, which passed the House and is currently […]
Town Hall Meetings on the Financial Choice Act are right now the most urgent defense line to protect shareholder rights. As you are aware, the Financial CHOICE Act (which threatens to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Shareholder Proposal Rule) has been referred to the full House of Representatives for a vote as […]
Great article this morning on the proposed Financial CHOICE Act from Lauren Compere, Director of Shareholder Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management entitled Too Big To Listen? Dodd-Frank and Shareholder Rights! See also “Shut Up”: Not What Good Companies Tell Their Owners from Julie Fox Gorte, Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing, Pax World. Below is a copy […]
The draft Financial CHOICE Act, among other things, would take away a shareholder’s choice to file proxy proposals, their choice to refile similar proposals in subsequent years, their choice to use an agent to help them file and their right to choose from competing candidates unless they attend the meeting in person. The draft Financial […]