TheCorporateCounsel.net

The SEC truly is getting it from all sides these days. As noted in this article, the House Appropriations Committee marked up a bill yesterday that would hold the SEC’s funding flat for the next fiscal year. The “2016 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations” bill would provide $1.5 billion for the SEC in fiscal 2016, the same budget level the agency is operating on this year. That number is $222 million less than what the Obama administration requested. The bill provides funding toward information technology projects at the agency – but prohibits the SEC from spending money out of a reserve fund established by Dodd-Frank…

Proxy Access: 5 Law Firm Comment Letter

A few days ago, five law firms – which handle the bulk of the Rule 14a-8 work out there – submitted this comment letter to the SEC regarding the agency’s ongoing review of the shareholder proposal process for no-action requests made under Rule 14a-8(i)(9) (ie. conflicting proposals).

There are 5 comment letters posted so far – including this one that includes a blog that I posted from an anonymous member as an attachment. Finding these comment letters can be tricky since there is no proposed rule – they are housed under the Corp Fin page, then head to the “Current Topics” box on the right side and you will see a link to “Share Your Views” on the Staff review of conflicting shareholder proposals – which has a link to “submitted comments” at the bottom…

Here’s the latest status check into how proxy access shareholder proposals fared during this proxy season.

Non-Partisan SEC Commissioners: Seeking Transfer Agent Update

A lot of ink has been spilled lately about the politicization of the SEC. But yesterday’s joint statement from short-timer Commissioners Aguilar & Gallagher – which was followed by a joint statement of support from Commissioners Stein & Piwowar! – do show that sometimes Commissioners from different political parties do work together. The Commissioners seek an overhaul of the transfer agent regulatory framework since that hasn’t been done in 30 years.

It’s amazing to me how often that individual SEC Commissioners put out their own statements – including dissents – these days. I wonder if that practice will continue beyond this current group of Commissioners…

Meanwhile, this WSJ article entitled “The SEC’s Recruiting Problem: Its Former Officials” talks about how former SEC Commissioners & Staffers are warning candidates for the upcoming two Commissioner slots that the job is full of dysfunction and that even the vetting process can be quite a challenge. Even with that as a backdrop, I’m pretty confident that a number of qualified individuals would be more than happy to become a Commissioner…

– Broc Romanek