Author: Jon Dunn
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ISS sues to block Oklahoma proxy advisor law
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a proxy advisory firm that provides voting recommendations to institutional investors, sued to block an Oklahoma law requiring proxy advisors to provide additional financial analysis when recommending votes against company management. ISS filed the lawsuit against Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) over HB 4429, which Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed…
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Federal judge blocks New York climate superfund law
Chief Judge Brenda Sannes of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York blocked New York's Climate Change Superfund Act on Aug. 31, ruling that federal law preempts the state's effort to require fossil fuel companies to help pay for climate-related infrastructure and adaptation costs. New York enacted the law in 2024…
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California loosens first-year climate reporting requirements
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released new guidance on Sept. 2 giving companies additional flexibility as they prepare for the state's first greenhouse gas emissions reporting deadline on Nov. 10. California's SB 253 requires companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue that do business in the state to report their Scope 1…
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16 Republican attorneys general question Big Four climate commitments
On Aug. 24, a coalition of 16 Republican state attorneys general sent letters to Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) — collectively known as the Big Four accounting firms — raising concerns that the firms' climate commitments may conflict with professional accounting standards and state consumer protection laws. The attorneys general focused…
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SEC moves to eliminate shareholder proposal rule, shift power to states
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a proposed rule for interagency review on Aug. 28 that would rescind Rule 14a-8, the federal regulation requiring public companies to include qualifying shareholder proposals in their annual proxy statements. The proposal would also amend Rule 14a-4, which governs proxy solicitation materials. Under the current rule, shareholders who…
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US warns EU it will act over corporate sustainability rules
The Trump administration sent a letter to the European Union (EU) in August 2026 saying that it "will take any actions necessary to address unreasonable burdens on US commerce" unless the EU further scales back two corporate sustainability laws. The letter identifies the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to disclose sustainability-related information,…
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SEC makes shareholder proposal no-action pause permanent
The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance announced on Aug. 14, 2026, that it will permanently stop responding to no-action requests under Rule 14a-8. The rule governs when shareholders may place proposals on a company's proxy ballot and when companies may exclude them. No-action letters were nonbinding responses in which SEC staff…
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States introduced more than 500 bills preempting county land-use authority in 2025
In 2025, states introduced 511 bills that would preempt county authority over land use, including 138 bills that became law, according to the National Association of Counties (NACo). Lawmakers introduced these bills across 40 states and addressed housing, economic development, energy development, and other land-use policies. Preemption occurs when a higher level of government limits…
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States enact 14 ESG-related bills in 2026
State legislatures enacted 14 ESG-related bills during the 2026 legislative sessions, including two that became law after lawmakers overrode gubernatorial vetoes. This was the fewest ESG bills enacted in a single year since 2021. Legislators introduced 174 ESG-related bills this year. Fourteen became law, one was vetoed, eight advanced to a second chamber, 72 are…
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Five states enact proxy advisor disclosure laws
Five states — Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, Kentucky, and Kansas — enacted proxy advisor disclosure laws during the 2026 legislative sessions, making proxy advisor regulation the most common ESG-related policy approach enacted this year. Kentucky and Kansas enacted their laws after Republican-controlled legislatures overrode vetoes from Democratic governors. Proxy advisory firms, including Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)…