On the recordNovember 8, 2023
Like so many amendments that I, along with many others, introduced today, this is an assault on the taxpayers and more bureaucratic red tape that they want the taxpayers to pay for. Mr. Chair, this amendment prohibits the use of funds to implement the SEC's ``Staff Legal Bulletin 14L,'' also known as SLB 14L. This staff legal bulletin allows the SEC staff to open up a big loophole for activist proposals to the detriment of American workers and retirement savers. It is either doing one or two things: paying staff twice or hiring staff to do something that was not anticipated by the SEC. Traditionally, under rule 14a-8, public companies could request a no- action letter from the SEC allowing them to exclude shareholder proposals that are irrelevant to the company's business. The SLB, or staff legal bulletin, said they will not issue no-action letters if a proposal concerns an issue with a broad societal impact. I don't even know what that is, ``a broad societal impact.'' Try defining that. In other words, it doesn't matter if a shareholder proposal is illegal or irrelevant to the company. If it is on a significant social policy issue of broad societal impact--whatever that is--it has to be considered. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
