ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
On June 20, 2025, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) signed SB 2337, a new law that significantly alters the landscape for proxy advisory firms (e.g., Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Service (ISS)) providing services to...more
As companies begin preparing for the 2023 proxy season, we note that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, issued...more
On September 19, 2022, amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules governing proxy solicitations became effective. The amendments, proposed on November 17, 2021, seek to address concerns by investors and...more
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to rescind several amendments to its rules governing proxy voting advice (the Final Amendments). The vote reversed some of the key provisions...more
On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, adopted amendments to the rules governing proxy voting advice businesses (proxy advisors), rescinding two components of the proxy rules...more
The SEC has posted its Spring 2022 Reg-Flex agenda and it’s crammed with pending and new rulemakings—and they’re all going to be proposed or adopted in October! (Ok, admittedly, that’s an exaggeration, but not much of one.)...more
Takeaways - Independence is neither a fixed condition nor a universal status for all purposes. Events and relationships can disqualify an otherwise independent director from participating in decisions.. No matter how pure a...more
In 2019, the SEC proposed changes to its proxy advisor rules (the “2019 Proposed Rules”). Later the SEC adopted final rules regarding proxy voting advice (the “2020 Final Rules”) provided by proxy advisory firms, or proxy...more
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, proposed amendments to the rules governing proxy voting advice businesses (proxy advisors). The amendments would rescind two portions of...more
For years, many companies and business lobbies, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, repeatedly raised concerns about proxy advisory firms’ concentrated power and significant influence over corporate elections...more
The SEC’s long-awaited final rules governing voting advice provided by proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholders Service (ISS) and Glass Lewis (the “final rules”) became effective on November 2, 2020. The final...more
The Situation: On July 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted final rule amendments to regulate proxy voting advice as part of its emphasis on modernizing the proxy process. The final SEC...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved in a 3-1 vote the long-debated proxy advisory firm reforms proposed on Nov. 5, 2019. ...more
On July 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt amendments (Amendments) to certain of its rules governing proxy solicitations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). The...more
The nation’s largest shareholder advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), recently filed suit against the SEC over new guidelines meant to give investors more transparency into how proxy advisory firms...more
New Rules, Proposed Rules, Guidance and Alerts - PROPOSED RULES – SEC Proposes Rule Changes for Proxy Advisory Firms – On November 5, 2019, the SEC issued a release proposing amendments to the federal proxy rules...more
SEC Sanctions Private Fund Adviser and Chief Investment Officer for Valuation Policy Failures - On June 4, 2019, the SEC announced that Deer Park Road Management Company, LP (“Deer Park”) agreed to pay a $5 million...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
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders. In this edition, we review: ...SEC Changes Approach to Shareholder Proposal No-Action Requests ...SEC Issues...more
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued guidance on the applicability of certain U.S. proxy rules to voting advice given by proxy advisory firms, such as ISS and Glass Lewis. This initiative...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held an open meeting on August 21, 2019, (the Open Meeting) and approved two items: (1) guidance regarding the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers under the...more
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved interpretative guidance relating to (i) the application of proxy rules to proxy advisory firms and (ii) the fiduciary role of investment advisers within...more
At an open meeting held on August 21, 2019 (the “Meeting”), the Commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance (the “Guidance”), by a 3-2 vote, to assist investment advisers when conducting...more
Possibly signaling the future direction of regulation of proxy advisers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Aug. 21 issued two sets of interpretive guidance, one regarding proxy advisory firms under the...more
As discussed in prior posts, the role of proxy advisory firms has once again risen to the forefront as a sizzling corporate governance topic, just in time for the SEC Proxy Roundtable on November 15. In advance of the event,...more