BOSTON—Today the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a proposed rulemaking to rescind Rule 14a-8, which lets shareholders submit proposals for inclusion in a company’s proxy statement.
Andrew Collier, Senior Director of Freedom to Invest, said:
Shareholder proposals are a free-market tool that allows investors to raise concerns with the companies they own on important, financially relevant issues. For decades, these proposals have been capital markets’ most practical accountability tools, increasing transparency and communication between companies and investors and giving both groups access to information and the freedom to act on it. Rescinding Rule 14a-8 will increase instability and costs for both companies and investors and further weaken American capital markets and the foundations that uphold them.
Institutional investors, state financial officers, and other groups have also written to the SEC Chair about the high stakes involved. Investors Andrew Poreda of Sage Advisory and Katie Carter of Presbyterian Church USA are available to speak with media on this announcement. To schedule an interview, email [email protected]
Policymakers have been raising the alarm about the stakes of what this repeal would mean. Last week, former GOP Congressman Carlos Curbelo and Ceres’ Steven Rothstein published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner warning that weakening the shareholder proposal process does not eliminate disputes, it pushes them into costlier, slower venues like federal courts. Removing the rule, they argued, means the government “is substituting political judgement for market discipline.”
About Freedom to Invest
Freedom to Invest supports investors and companies in protecting their long-standing rights to invest, operate, and engage responsibly. The initiative rallies free market voices to remind policymakers that the economy will be stronger and more resilient if investors can make their own investment decisions and engage companies directly on relevant financial issues, without government coercion. Learn more: www.freedomtoinvest.org.