In March, Broc wrote on our “Proxy Season Blog” that lobbying & political spending proposals were “coming up big” this year. And now that the height of proxy season is behind us, the Center for Political Accountability is elaborating on their recent successes in this blog. Here’s an excerpt:
The average vote was 36.4 percent at 33 companies that held annual meetings. That was up from 34 percent last year, when 18 resolutions went to a vote. In 2017, the resolution averaged 28 percent over the 22 resolutions that went to a vote. CPA and its shareholder partners reached disclosure agreements and withdrew resolutions at 13 companies this year. That compares with three in 2018 and seven in 2017.
The 2019 Proxy Season breakdown is as follows:
– Two majority votes in support of the resolution at Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (53.6%) and Macy’s Inc. (53.1%).
– Eleven votes in the 40% range, including Kohl’s Corp. (49.8%), NextEra Energy Inc. (48.7%), Allstate Corp. (46.9%), Chemed (46.2%), Western Union Co. (44.3%), Fiserv Inc. (43.8%), Alaska Air Group (43.5%), Roper Technologies Inc. (43.0%), Netflix Inc. (41.7%), Centene Corp. (41.6%) and Nucor Corp (40.6%).
– Twelve votes in the 30% range. The companies included Illumina Inc. (37.7%), Simon Property Group Inc. (37.1%), American Water Works Company Inc. (37.0%), Duke Energy Corp. (35.8%), Wyndham Destinations (35.6%), American Tower Corp. (35%), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (34.5%), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (34.4%) CMS Energy Corp. (34.3%), Equinix Inc. (34.2%), DTE Energy Co. (33.6%), and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (31.7%).
A Cooley blog explores why companies might be coming around to greater oversight of this type of spending, and discusses some of the CPA’s recommendations…
-Liz Dunshee, TheCorporateCounsel.net, August 9, 2019
