We are delighted to hear that Jim McRitchie, ICCR, and As You Sow are challenging the new SEC rule on shareholder proposals with a lawsuit.

A group of investors sued Wall Street’s regulator on Tuesday over rule changes that raise the bar for filing resolutions at annual shareholder meetings to call for new priorities or reforms.

The group is concerned that the changes, pushed through in 2020 by appointees of former U.S. President Donald Trump and set to take effect next year, will restrict shareholder democracy just as activist investors are starting to drive significant change in Corporate America.

More top funds are throwing their weight behind investor challenges to companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and are putting companies on notice by choosing to publicize how and why they voted. read more

The investors argue the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules make it harder to hold companies accountable over hot-button issues such as climate change or workforce diversity, and want them set aside.

“This was a political rulemaking not warranted by the record or the evidence,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a California shareholder activist group and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Investors sue U.S. regulator over Trump-era AGM resolution rules | Reuters