Shareholder proposal rule
In our earlier blog post, we discussed Staff Legal Bulletin 14M (SLB 14M), which rescinded prior Staff Legal Bulletin 14L (SLB 14L). The staff of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that SLB 14M is...more
In one of its first actions under the new Administration, the SEC staff issued new guidance that largely reinstated older guidance that had supported the ability of public companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their...more
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M) concerning shareholder proposals for public company proxy...more
In June 2023, then-Commissioner Mark Uyeda (currently, Acting Chair) spoke to the Society for Corporate Governance 2023 National Conference on the topic of shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. Alluding to the frequent...more
Public companies navigating the 2025 proxy season just got some breathing room—at least when it comes to excluding certain shareholder proposals. Last week, the Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance—in a...more
On February 12, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) Division of Corporation Finance staff (the staff) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M) to provide informal guidance on shareholder...more
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M), rescinding Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L (Nov. 3, 2021)...more
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporate Finance (the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued new guidance on Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposals, which comes one day after the Staff...more
Normally, I don’t pay too much attention to the speeches that SEC Commissioners deliver because it’s the SEC Chair that wields the real clout. But given where we are with a new SEC Chair to be sworn in over the coming months...more
SEC charges four companies with misleading cyber disclosures - Resulting from an investigation involving public companies potentially impacted by the compromise of SolarWinds’ Orion software and other related activity, the...more
SEC Penalizes Director for Misleading D&O Questionnaire Response - The SEC recently brought an enforcement action against a director for causing violations of the proxy rules by failing to disclose a close personal...more
Clawback Rules. As previously discussed in last Winter’s Corporate Communicator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC") adopted final rules in October 2022 directing the NYSE and Nasdaq to adopt listing standards that...more
On July 14, 2022, the SEC voted 3-2 to propose a rule adopting amendments to Rule 14a-8 (the Proposed Amendments), which requires companies subject to the federal proxy rules to include certain shareholder proposals in...more
On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed amendments to Rule 14a-8, which specifies the conditions under which companies can exclude shareholder proposals from the company’s proxy...more
In this issue, we cover regulatory developments impacting the investment management sector, including proposed legislation supported by the Investment Company Institute to address challenges for closed-end funds; the...more
During 2019, the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division” or the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) addressed a number of regulatory issues affecting public companies and participants...more
Yesterday the SEC announced the agenda for its upcoming open meeting to be held on Tuesday, November 5 at 10:00 a.m. EST. All SEC open meetings are webcast and a hyperlink to the webcast will be posted to www.sec.gov shortly...more
Planning for the 2018 Proxy Season - There are number of important considerations that public companies should be aware of as they begin preparing for the 2018 proxy season, including potential changes in law, pay ratio...more