Administration August 23, 2011

CII Urges SEC to File Petition

August 23, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Council of Institutional Investors (CII) and 14 members sent a letter on August 19 to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to file a petition for a rehearing of the case of Business Roundtable and Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Securities and Exchange Commission (D.C. Cir.) (No. 10-1305).

Reported by

Tara Cantore

The letter mentions the Commission’s disappointment with the recent decision of a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacating Rule 14a-11. This rule would have allowed qualifying stakeholders to have their director nominees included in corporate proxy solicitation materials.

Jeff Mahoney, general counsel, and author of the letter, states: “The panel’s decision could have long-term negative consequences on the ability of the Commission and other agencies to effectively and efficiently promulgate rules that improve the regulation of the markets. As former SEC Commissioner Harvey J. Goldschmid recently commented, ‘[i]f the court’s unrealistic requirements were applied across the board, the regulatory process would grind to a halt.’ This is particularly troubling given the extraordinarily high demands that are being placed on the SEC staff at this time.”

Mahoney added that if the SEC decides not to file a petition for a rehearing of the case, but rather reissue the final rule after addressing the concerns raised by the court, then CII will assist in that effort.