Walden Asset Management and AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) announced that a 70+-investor coalition including public pension funds, labor organizations, asset managers, foundations, and faith-based organizations filed corporate lobbying disclosure shareholder proposals at 33 companies. The target companies allegedly: (i) lobby significantlyat the federal and state levels, (ii) don’t disclose their trade association lobbying payments, or (iii) are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which reportedly has a record of opposing climate change policies and regulation – the focus of this year’s corporate political responsibility-themed campaign.
The release notes that a major ongoing focus for the investors is undisclosed trade association lobbying payments because the trade associations aren’t required to disclose their funding sources and sometimes take positions that are contrary to the companies’ publicly stated positions or values, or take controversial stances, as purportedly is frequently the case with climate-related policy.
The targeted companies and proposal filers are identified in the release.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!
See also these posts from Cooley (re: the newly introduced House bill: “Corporate Political Disclosure Act of 2019,” CorpGov.net, and Center for Political Accountability, and additional information & resources on our Political Contributions and Disclosure and Shareholder Proposals pages.