SEC: Companies Can No Longer Bury the Lede on Shareholder Votes

December 2009 – The Securities and Exchange Commission moved to finalize a new rule that requires companies to disclose annual meeting voting results within four business days after the annual meeting. Trillium argued vigorously in support of this rule change because we believe the value of vote totals is greatest immediately after the annual meeting. This is when media interest is usually highest and delays only put the issue farther from shareholders’ minds. In fact we have witnessed occasions when it appears that companies are dragging their feet in an effort to minimize or marginalize strong expressions of support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues. We applaud the Commission for this simple, but very important improvement to the shareholder resolution process.