Under Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, shareholders
owning relatively small amounts of a company's securities may have a proposal
placed in that company's proxy materials for vote at a meeting of the
shareholders. The recently House-approved Financial CHOICE Act would increase
the stock ownership threshold for submitting shareholder proposals in the
company’s proxy statement, and would extend the stockholding duration. Some
commentators have argued that changing the threshold as proposed would essentially
eliminate the filing of shareholder proposals. This panel, featuring editors
from The Business Law Prof Blog, will discuss the wisdom of the proposed
legislation, as well as the pros and cons of shareholder proposals more
generally.