Shareholder proposal rule
Last week, I blogged about how four NYC public pension funds sued a company in a New York federal court over its decision to exclude a workforce diversity shareholder proposal after the company decided it had a “reasonable...more
Back when Corp Fin decided to bow out of serving as the referee for this proxy season, many preached that companies still had to be careful when deciding whether to exclude a proposal....more
Ahead of this proxy season, Corp Fin issued this statement saying that it wouldn’t respond to no-action requests – at least until September 30, 2026 – unless a company is seeking relief under Rule 14a-8(i)(1), the “not a...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Division of Corporation Finance announced on Nov. 17, 2025, that it will not issue Exchange Act Rule 14a-8 no-action letters to companies seeking to exclude shareholder...more
Glass Lewis has released its 2026 US Benchmark Policy Guidelines, which will apply to shareholder meetings held on or after January 1, 2026. Consistent with recent years, the updates are incremental rather than structural,...more
On November 17, 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance announced that it will not respond to no-action requests by companies to exclude shareholder proposals for the 2026 proxy...more
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance recently issued a statement (the “Statement”) that, for the current proxy season, it will not respond to no-action requests for, and express no views on, companies’ exclusion of...more
On November 17, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (the SEC) announced a significant change in its approach to no-action requests for public companies to exclude shareholder proposals under Exchange Act Rule...more
On November 17, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Division”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced it will not respond to, and will express no views on, requests for exclusions of...more
On November 17, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a statement regarding no action letter requests related to Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposals....more
The SEC Chairman indicates a policy shift for public companies, inviting them to take action to exclude precatory shareholder proposals from their proxy materials. In a recent keynote address at the Weinberg Center for...more
I’ve blogged a few times about how the SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has delivered a speech in which he stated that one of his top priorities is to make being a public company an attractive proposition, with eliminating precatory...more
Texas Senate Bill 1057, which became effective September 1, 2025, adds new Section 21.373 to the Texas Business Organizations Code (“TBOC”). This new Section of the TBOC creates a framework that governs when and how...more
Closed-end investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"), have proven to be a product sought by many investors, especially individuals. Despite their appeal to long-term...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed three amendments to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which governs what proposals made by a public company’s shareholders must be included in...more
In a speech on March 15, 2021, Allison Herren Lee, Acting Chair of the SEC, reported on the steps the SEC is taking to meet investors’ growing demand for climate and ESG information, stating that “no single issue has been...more
As noted here, two issuers have omitted shareholder proposals from preliminary proxy statements where no-action letters from the SEC regarding omission of the proposals have been withdrawn. The blog suggests, within its...more