Lydia Beyoud of Bloomberg reports:
The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to scrap rules governing how and when public company shareholders can bring proxy proposals, according to a new post by the Office of Management and Budget.
The agency sent the proposal to the White House’s OMB for review last week ….
We’ve devoted a lot of attention to Rule 14a-8 over the years, none of it complimentary:
The SEC's Latest Shareholder Proposal (Rule 14a-8) Developments
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance announced last Friday that:
Memo to Chairman Paul Atkins re Rule 14a-8 Reform
As regular readers know, I do not believe in “shareholder democracy.”
The Appalling State of the Ordinary Business Grounds for Excluding a Shareholder Proposal
A new opinion by Judge Leo Sorokin (D. Mass.), Dinapoli v. BJ’S Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc., stands as a textbook example of why the SEC’s new policy of not issuing no action letters re shareholder proposals and why the Rule 14a-8(i)(7) ordinary business matters ground for excluding shareholder proposals from the issuer’s proxy statement is hopelessly muddled.
Why Shouldn't the SEC Silence Shareholders?
In today’s WSJ, an odd political pairing—Steven Rothstein of the left-leaning Ceres climate change group and Peter Flaherty of the right-leaning National Legal and Policy Center—come together to argue against the mere possibility that the SEC may cut back on the shareholder proposal rule (
Evaluating Joe Grundfest's Argument For Repealing the Shareholder Proposal Rule
The shareholder proposal rule (SEC Rule 14a-8) seems to be squarely in SEC Chairman Paul Atkin’s sights. As such, it has been a frequent subject of our conversations here at BainbridgeOnCorporations, including commentary on how Atkins might go about fixing the serious flaws in the rule.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins Continues His Focus on Reforming SEC Rule 14a-8 (the Shareholder Proposal Rule): Part I
Bloomberg reports that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins announced Thursday that the agency will reconsider SEC Rule 14a-8, which mandating companies to include qualified shareholder proposals in their proxy statements.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins Continues His Focus on Reforming SEC Rule 14a-8 (The Shareholder Proposal Rule): Part II
Speaking at the University of Delaware, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins criticized the “politicization of shareholder meetings,” specifically taking aim at shareholder proposals driven by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns:
Shareholder Proposals and the "Significance"/"Relevance" Test
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 14a-8 gives shareholders the right to submit proposals to be included in a company’s proxy materials. But that right is not unlimited. Among the key exclusions available to companies is Rule 14a-8(i)(5), known as the
Paul Atkins' SEC Rejects Gary Gensler's Plan to Encourage Shareholder Proposals
In a series of notices between 2022 and 2023, the then Democrat majority at the SEC pushed through on party line 3-2 party votes multiple rulemaking proposals that the new Republican majority SEC yesterday announced it was withdrawing. In one fell swoop, new Chairman Paul Atkins thus gutted what remained of former Chairman Gary Gensler’s regulatory agenda.