Results for: conflict minerals
The Chamber and NCPPR file brief challenging SEC climate disclosure rule
As you probably recall, on March 6, the SEC adopted final rules “to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings.” (See this PubCo post, this PubCo post, this PubCo post, and this PubCo post.) Even though, in the final rules, the SEC scaled back significantly on the proposal—including putting the kibosh on the controversial mandate for Scope 3 GHG emissions reporting and requiring disclosure of Scope 1 and/or Scope 2 GHG emissions on a phased-in basis only by accelerated and large accelerated filers and only when those emissions are material—all kinds of litigation immediately ensued. Those cases were then consolidated in the Eighth Circuit (see this PubCo post) and, in April, the SEC determined to exercise its discretion to stay the final climate disclosure rules “pending the completion of judicial review of the consolidated Eighth Circuit petitions.” There are currently nine consolidated cases—with two petitioners, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, having voluntarily exited the litigation (see this PubCo post), and a new petition having just been filed by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a familiar presence in various cases, such as the legal challenges to the Nasdaq board diversity rules (see this PubCo post), state and corporate DEI initiatives (see this PubCo post and this PubCo post), and litigation over shareholder proposals (see this PubCo post). Petitioners have recently begun to submit briefing. One that has been made available is the brief that was filed on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Texas Association of Business, Longview Chamber of Commerce and the National Center for Public Policy Research.
Commissioner Uyeda calls for development of guiding principles for foreign company disclosure requirements
Are the regulations applicable to foreign companies in for a reassessment? You might draw that conclusion from reading the remarks from SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda at the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, 2024 U.S.-China Symposium last week. Uyeda observes that, from its earliest days, the SEC has “recognized the unique nature of foreign companies accessing the U.S. capital markets, and its rules have afforded different treatment to foreign companies,” such as different forms for registration and reporting. But more recently, the SEC has applied several of its rules equally to domestic and foreign companies, an approach that, in Uyeda’s view, is inconsistent and suffers from the absence of a “clearly articulated regulatory philosophy.” He advises that the SEC should step back and undertake a more comprehensive review with a view toward the development of guiding principles—a “philosophy for when disclosure by foreign companies should be equivalent to disclosure by U.S. companies.” In particular, he advocates that the SEC reexamine the definition of “foreign private issuer”: while a test based on ownership and management may have made sense in 1983, does it still “reflect the realities of today’s global capital markets, corporate structures, and business practices”?
Dubious en banc Fifth Circuit hears oral argument on Nasdaq board diversity rules
In August 2021, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal for new listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure, accompanied by a proposal to provide free access to a board recruiting service. The new listing rules adopted a “comply or explain” mandate for board diversity for most listed companies and required companies listed on Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange to publicly disclose “consistent, transparent diversity statistics” regarding the composition of their boards. (See this PubCo post.) It didn’t take long for a court challenge to these rules to materialize: the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment and, later, the National Center for Public Policy Research petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—the Alliance has its principal place of business in Texas—for review of the SEC’s final order approving the Nasdaq rule. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post) In October 2023, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit denied those petitions, in effect upholding Nasdaq’s board diversity listing rules. Given that, by repute, the Fifth Circuit is the circuit of choice for advocates of conservative causes, the decision to deny the petition may have taken some by surprise—unless, that is, they were aware, as discussed in the WSJ and Reuters, that the three judges on this panel happened to all be appointed by Democrats. Petitioners then filed a petition requesting a rehearing en banc by the Fifth Circuit, where Republican presidents have appointed 12 of the 16 active judges. (See this PubCo post.) Not that politics has anything to do with it, of course. That petition for rehearing en banc was granted, vacating the opinion of the lower court. Yesterday, oral argument was heard. Let’s just say that, while some points were made in support of the rule, the discussion seemed to be dominated by rule skeptics. But the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar did figure in the discussion. Some highlights below.
Fifth Circuit grants petition for rehearing en banc for Nasdaq board diversity rule
In August 2021, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal for new listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure, accompanied by a proposal to provide free access to a board recruiting service. The new listing rules adopted a “comply or explain” mandate for board diversity for most listed companies and required companies listed on Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange to publicly disclose “consistent, transparent diversity statistics” regarding the composition of their boards. (See this PubCo post.) It didn’t take long for a court challenge to these rules to materialize: the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment and, later, the National Center for Public Policy Research petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—the Alliance has its principal place of business in Texas—for review of the SEC’s final order approving the Nasdaq rule. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post) In October 2023, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit denied those petitions, in effect upholding Nasdaq’s board diversity listing rules. Given that, by repute, the Fifth Circuit is the circuit of choice for advocates of conservative causes, the decision to deny the petition may have taken some by surprise—unless, that is, they were aware, as discussed in the WSJ and Reuters, that the three judges on this panel happened to all be appointed by Democrats. Petitioners then filed a petition requesting a rehearing en banc by the Fifth Circuit, where Republican presidents have appointed 12 of the 16 active judges. (See this PubCo post.) Not that politics has anything to do with it, of course. That petition for rehearing en banc has just been granted by the Fifth Circuit—on Presidents’ Day—and the opinion of the lower court was vacated.
House hearing raises specter of serious legal hurdles for climate proposal—will the SEC backtrack?
Last week, a House Financial Services subcommittee held a hearing with the ominous title “Oversight of the SEC’s Proposed Climate Disclosure Rule: A Future of Legal Hurdles.” Billed as oversight, the hearing certainly highlighted the gauntlet that the SEC would have to run if the rules were adopted as is. Not that SEC Chair Gary Gensler wasn’t already well aware that the climate proposal is facing a number of legal challenges. Will this gentle “reminder” by the subcommittee, together with recent court decisions, perhaps lead the SEC to moderate some of the most controversial aspects of the proposal, such as the Scope 3 and accounting requirements? The witnesses were a VP of the National Association of Manufacturers, counsel from BigLaw, a farmer and an academic.
SEC’s Fall 2023 Reg-Flex Agenda is out—climate disclosure rules delayed again
The SEC’s Fall 2023 Reg-Flex Agenda—according to the preamble, compiled as of August 22, 2023, reflecting “only the priorities of the Chair”—has now been posted. And it’s Groundhog Day again. All of the Corp Fin agenda items made an appearance before on the last agenda and, in most cases, several agendas before that. Do I hear a sigh of relief? Of course, the new agenda is a bit shorter than the Spring 2023 agenda, given the absence of regulations that have since been adopted, including cybersecurity risk governance (see this PubCo post) and modernization of beneficial ownership reporting (see this PubCo post). At first glance, the biggest surprise—if it’s on the mark, that is—is that the target date for final action on the SEC’s controversial climate disclosure proposal has been pushed out until April 2024. Keep in mind that it is only a target date, and the SEC sometimes acts well in advance of the target. For example, the cybersecurity proposal had a target date on the last agenda of October 2023, but final rules were adopted much earlier in July. I confess that my hunch was that we would see final rules before the end of this year, but adoption this year looks increasingly unlikely (especially given that the posted agenda for this week’s open meeting does not include climate). Not surprisingly, there’s nothing on the agenda about a reproposal of the likely-to-be vacated (?) share repurchase rules, although, at the date that the agenda was compiled, the possibility of vacatur was not yet known. (See this PubCo post.) Describing the new agenda, SEC Chair Gary Gensler observed that “[w]e are blessed with the largest, most sophisticated, and most innovative capital markets in the world. But we cannot take this for granted. Even a gold medalist must keep training. That’s why we’re updating our rules for the technology and business models of the 2020s. We’re updating our rules to promote the efficiency, integrity, and resiliency of the markets. We do so with an eye toward investors and issuers alike, to ensure the markets work for them and not the other way around.”
It’s not over till it’s over: Petition filed for rehearing en banc on Nasdaq board diversity rule
As discussed in this PubCo post, on October 18, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit denied the petitions filed by the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment and the National Center for Public Policy Research challenging the SEC’s final order approving the Nasdaq listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure. The new listing rules adopted a “comply or explain” mandate for board diversity for most listed companies and required companies listed on Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange to publicly disclose “consistent, transparent diversity statistics” regarding the composition of their boards. (See this PubCo post.) Given that, by repute, the Fifth Circuit is the circuit of choice for advocates of conservative causes, the decision to deny the petition may have taken some by surprise—unless, that is, they were aware, as discussed in the WSJ and Reuters, that the three judges on this panel happened to all be appointed by Democrats. Yesterday, the Petitioners filed a petition requesting a rehearing en banc by the Fifth Circuit, where Republican presidents have appointed 12 of the 16 active judges. Not that politics has anything to do with it, of course.
SEC posts Spring 2023 Reg-Flex Agenda—not much new but lots left to do
The SEC’s Spring 2023 Reg-Flex Agenda—according to the preamble, compiled as of April 10, 2023, reflecting “only the priorities of the Chair”—has now been posted. Here is the short-term agenda, which shows most Corp Fin agenda items targeted for action by October 2023, potentially making the next four months an especially frenetic period, with only a few proposal-stage items targeted for April 2024. And here is the long-term (maybe never) agenda. Describing the new agenda, SEC Chair Gary Gensler observed that “[t]echnology, markets, and business models constantly change. Thus, the nature of the SEC’s work must evolve as the markets we oversee evolve. In every generation since President Franklin Roosevelt’s, our Commission has updated its ruleset to meet the challenges of a new hour. Consistent with our legal mandate, guided by economic analysis, and informed by public comment, this agenda reflects the latest step in that long tradition.”
The short-term agenda includes a half dozen or so potential proposals that were on the Fall 2022 agenda, but didn’t quite make it out of the starting gate, such as plans for disclosure regarding corporate board diversity and human capital. Similarly, issues related to the private markets are still awaiting proposals. The question of why and how to address the decline in the number of public companies has, in the recent past, been a point of contention among the commissioners: is excessive regulation of public companies a deterrent to going public or has deregulation of the private markets juiced their appeal, but sacrificed investor protection in the bargain? That debate may play out in the coming months with two new proposals targeted for October this year: a plan to amend the definition of “holders of record” and a proposal to amend Reg D, including updates to the accredited investor definition. And the behemoth proposal regarding climate change disclosure—identified on the last agenda as targeted for final action but not considered for adoption on the schedule as planned—reappears on the current calendar with a later target date. Will that new target be met? Notably, political spending disclosure is, once again, not identified on the agenda. That’s because Section 633 of the Appropriations Act once again prohibits the SEC from using any of the funds appropriated “to finalize, issue, or implement any rule, regulation, or order regarding the disclosure of political contributions, contributions to tax exempt organizations, or dues paid to trade associations.”
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