News & Insights

With a ruling against Shell & majority votes against Exxon & Chevron, May 26th was a really big (bad) day for Big Oil.

Van Jones – As I survey the landscape the morning after, and as millions of votes are still being counted, I see 5 points of optimism.

The SEC voted today to consider sweeping changes to the regulations governing the shareholder proposal process which negatively impact small investors as well as proxy advisory services. The proposed changes to Rule 14a-8 include substantially more strict and complicated thresholds for filing, significantly higher resubmission requirements, serious free speech infringements on independent third-party proxy advisory services, and onerous restrictions on an investor’s essential agency right to seek assistance.

On September 6, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a new policy that could significantly reduce transparency and accountability in the process of enforcement of the rules on shareholder proposals. According to a group of leading investors who utilize this process, the new policy undermines the rights of shareholders and increases uncertainty.

Investor Voice, representing shareholders of Newground Social Investment, reached an agreement with Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (ticker: AMP) that significantly expands transparency of the company’s election-related spending.

New General Electric CEO Larry Culp’s emphasis on transparency apparently now extends to the company’s political operations. GE executives just decided to broaden the company’s disclosures of political donations to include trade association dues as well as gifts to “social welfare” nonprofits, a.k.a. 501(c)(4)s, often used to funnel 'dark money' to candidates.

General Electric announced it would become more transparent – starting this month – by disclosing any contributions it makes to so-called social welfare organizations, a category of nonprofit groups that often sponsor campaign outreach and political attack ads. GE agreed to the array of new policies as a result of a shareholder resolution and negotiations with Investor Voice.

General Electric will begin disclosing contributions to 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations and non-tax-deductible contributions to major trade associations, both of which can be spent on elections. The agreement was reached with Investor Voice after filing a proxy proposal on the subject.

For the first time, GE has agreed to robust disclosure of payments made to trade associations and secretive “social welfare” organizations, also known as 501(c)(4) groups – payments that might be used for election-related purposes. Investor Voice filed a shareholder proposal in September that urged the company to embrace greater transparency by disclosing such payments.