February 21, 2012
House Financial Services Committee Passes Four Bills
Last Thursday, as noted in this Bloomberg article and this Reuters article, the House Financial Services Committee passed four bills that are either Dodd-Frank related or would impact the capital markets, including (the Committee’s site has all four bills posted):
1. H.R. 3606: “Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act,” the small business capital formation bill (that is described in Jim Hamilton’s blog)
2. H.R. 2308: “SEC Regulatory Accountability Act,” which would require the SEC to conduct enhanced cost-benefit analyses before adopting new rules
3. H.R. 1838: “Swaps Bailout Prevention Act,” which would remove “push-out” provision of Dodd-Frank so over-the-counter swaps tied to high-quality credit transactions would remain on the books of insured banks
4. H.R. 4014: still unnamed, would give CFTC power to compel production of documents without it constituting a waiver of attorney work product privilege
The first bill was approved 54-1, the second narrowly by 30-26 and the last two were unanimously approved.
ISS Makes GRid 2.0 Preview Available to Companies Before It Goes “Live”
As I’ve blogged before, ISS has changed its corporate governance ratings process again – it’s now called “GRId 2.0.” Yesterday, ISS began allowing companies to verify what ISS will be disclosing about them publicly – and Russell 3000 companies should take advantage of this opportunity before the general public gets to read ISS’ analysis starting next Monday, February 27th. So there is less than a week to review these ‘draft’ analyses – tough timing given its the heart of ‘drafting the proxy’ season for many.
Companies will need to obtain a username and password to verify their GRId data (which they can do for free) – then you have to go into the “Governance Analytics” portal to get to your company’s GRId score as ISS’ main site won’t get you there. Learn more about the new GRid in our “Governance Ratings” Practice Area.
Transcript: “Ethics, Conflicts and Privilege Issues in Executive Compensation”
We have posted the transcript for our recent CompensationStandards.com webcast: “Ethics, Conflicts and Privilege Issues in Executive Compensation.”
– Broc Romanek