U.S. Investor, CEO Groups Set for Lobbying Battle Over Proxy Challenges
Shareholder activists are pushing back against a major business trade group’s request that the White House use its influence on the U.S. securities regulator to make it harder to get governance, political or environmental issues onto corporate ballots, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Reporter writes that existing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules have “given shareholders an important voice,” and should not be changed, the five investor groups said in a March 15 letter to the White House’s National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
SEC rules now allow shareholders to submit proposals to corporate ballots if they own $2,000 or 1 percent of a company’s outstanding stock. The SEC can override a company’s objections if the proposal meets certain legal standards and should be on the ballot, Lynch explains.