February 8, 2012
Webcast: “The Exploding World of Political Contributions”
I never thought I’d host a program involving election law but boards increasingly are being called on to oversee the corporate political contribution process – and thus many in our community are now required to learn some new “tricks.” Tune in tomorrow for the webcast – “The Exploding World of Political Contributions” – to hear Ken Gross of Skadden Arps and Doug Chia of Johnson & Johnson discuss how companies should rethink their political contribution policies and procedures so they don’t violate pay-to-play or other laws or run afoul of what their major shareholders demand from them (the webcast won’t parse efforts to rein in Citizens United, such as this California initiative). Please print these course materials in advance.
By the way, you might want to check out this article by the Center for Political Accountability entitled – “Dangerous Terrain: How to Manage Corporate Political Spending in a Risky New Environment” – which looks at the dramatic change in campaign spending through the lens of corporate governance and Watergate and the heightened risks that companies face.
Three States to Require Insurers to Disclose Climate Change Response Plans; Covers 90% of Insurers
As noted in this NY Times article, insurance commissioners in California, New York and Washington State now will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to the risks their businesses and customers face from increasingly severe storms and wildfires, rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change. The disclosure will be made in the form of a National Association of Insurance Commissioners survey ( I think this is what the survey will look like). I believe these are the first three states to mandate this type of disclosure (state NAICs started collecting voluntary disclosure surveys in 2009 (here’s Ceres’ latest summary of what insurers have voluntarily disclosed), but this is the first time it has been mandated).
Between these three states, about 90% of the insurance industry in the US market will be covered, as these states made it mandatory for any insurance company doing business in those states (if they do $300 million worth of business nationwide); not just those domiciled in those states. This effort builds upon the SEC’s climate change guidance from early 2010.
New US Exchange: “It’s Better Than A Magic Lantern Show”
A while back, Keith Bishop posted this blog explaining who’s the third largest securities exchange operator in the United States and where is it located. The exchange operator is called BATS and it is based outside of Kansas City. BATS is derived from an initialization of Better Alternative Trading System.
– Broc Romanek