Late last month, shortly before adopting amendments to Regulation 13D/G, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC") announced civil charges against several officers, directors, and major shareholders of public companies for failing to satisfy their timely reporting obligations. The SEC also charged the affiliated public companies for contributing to the reporting failures by insiders.
Topic: Corporate Governance
Updated Summary of Director Education Opportunities Available
Gibson Dunn’s summary of director education opportunities has been updated as of October 2023. A copy is available at this link. Boards of Directors of public and private companies find this a useful resource as they look for high quality education opportunities.
UPDATE: California Governor Signs Climate Legislation Into Law, But Signals Changes To Come
On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (“SB 253") and Senate Bill 261, Greenhouse Gases: Climate-Related Financial Risk (“SB 261"). The legislation imposes extensive new climate-related reporting requirements on any public or private U.S. business entity with annual revenues over $1 billion and $500 million (for SB 253 and SB 261, respectively) doing business in the state. A detailed discussion of each bill is available in our recent client alert.
Summary of Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosure Rules
On July 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”), in a 3-to-2 vote, adopted a final rule requiring the disclosure of material cybersecurity incidents and cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance by public companies, including foreign private issuers. A two-page summary of the final rule is attached for your reference.
Form 10-Q Updates and Reminders
As many companies prepare their quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, we offer the following observations and reminders regarding new disclosure requirements taking effect for this reporting period, as well as risk factor considerations that may be relevant to upcoming Form 10-Q reporting. For convenience, this publication also includes a summary of certain upcoming compliance dates for public companies.
Data Verification Period for New ISS Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore Questions Open from July 10 until July 21, 2023; Companies Should Log On Soon and Validate Their Information
A data verification period for Institutional Shareholder Services’ (ISS) new Environmental & Social Disclosure Quality Score questions opened for companies on July 10, 2023 and will remain open until July 21, 2023. The data verification process reflects a comprehensive update to ISS’s Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore scoring methodology, which ISS previewed in April 2023 and elaborated on in a June 2023 announcement.
Updated Summary of Director Education Opportunities Now Available
Gibson Dunn’s summary of director education opportunities has been updated as of July 2023. A copy is available at this link. Boards of Directors of public and private companies find this a useful resource as they look for high quality education opportunities.
New Vote Reporting Disclosures Required on Form N-PX – Vote Reports Now Extend to All 13F Filers – No Longer Limited to Registered Funds
In November 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted amended rules that update the existing reporting requirements on Form N‑PX and create new Form N‑PX reporting requirements for institutional investment managers.[1] The purpose of these amendments is to increase transparency surrounding proxy voting records. Prior to the adoption of this new rule, registered investment management companies (“Funds”), such as mutual funds and exchange traded funds, were required to publicly report their annual proxy voting records on Form N‑PX.
NYSE and Nasdaq Allow More Time for Companies to Adopt Rule 10D-1 Clawback Policies: What to Do Now
This week, both the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and The Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”, and together with NYSE, the “Exchanges”) filed amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to provide a delayed effective date for the Exchanges’ proposed listing standards requiring listed companies to adopt clawback policies, as mandated by Rule 10D-1 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.
Updated Summary of Director Education Opportunities Available
Gibson Dunn’s summary of director education opportunities has been updated as of April 2023. A copy is available at this link. Boards of Directors of public companies find this a useful resource as they look for high quality education opportunities.