New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, released the following statement today on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule to rescind Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal rule:

"Today, Trump’s SEC turned its back once again on American investors, abandoning its core mission to protect them. For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal process has been a cornerstone of American corporate governance that has strengthened board oversight, improved risk management, and fostered productive dialogue between investors and companies. With this attempt to rescind Rule 14a-8, the SEC has chosen to allow corporate management to shield themselves from accountability rather than protect the investors it was created to serve. I will continue to fight to defend the NYS pension fund’s rights as a shareholder against these reckless attacks.

"In the meantime, I am calling on every publicly traded American company to continue accepting shareholder proposals and including them in their proxy materials. The shareholder proposal process is a vital mechanism for institutional investors like the NYS pension fund to bring financially material risks to the attention of boards. This may be a political exercise for the SEC but dismantling shareholder rights does not make those risks disappear."