On Sunday, notwithstanding potentially "fatal" legal impediments (see our recent report here), California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the highly controversial board gender quota bill (Senate Bill 826) - which purports to cover California-headquartered companies regardless of their state of incorporation.
In this letter, he explained to the state's Senate:
I am signing Senate Bill 826 which requires a publicly held corporation, whose principal executive offices are located in California, to have a representative number of women on its board of directors.
There have been numerous objections to this bill and serious legal concerns have been raised. I don't minimize the potential flaws that indeed may prove fatal to its ultimate implementation. Nevertheless, recent events in Washington, D.C.--and beyond--make it clear that many are not getting the message.
As far back as 1886, and before women were even allowed to vote, corporations have been considered persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 US. 394 (1886).
Given all the special privileges that corporations have enjoyed for so long, it's high time corporate boards include the people who constitute more than half the "persons" in America.