Washington - Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten released the following statement after last night's U.S. House Financial Services Committee markup of legislation to address the proxy voting process, proxy advisory industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) excessive regulation:
“Business Roundtable applauds the U.S. House Financial Services Committee for its ongoing commitment to reform the proxy voting and shareholder proposal processes, provide vital oversight of proxy advisory firms and serve as a check on the SEC’s systematic regulatory overreach. Our members have long been concerned by the inadequate accountability and transparency requirements for proxy advisors and the outsized influence they wield in the shareholder voting process. The SEC’s actions under this Administration have only exacerbated these problems, harming investors, companies and financial markets.
“The legislation approved by the committee would make significant progress toward reversing this trend by reining in the SEC’s harmful and unjustified regulatory agenda, restoring essential shareholder safeguards and elevating sound corporate governance practices. We thank the committee and look forward to working with Congress to pass these commonsense measures.”