Shareholders Brace for Less Proxy Power in Second Trump Term

Investor activists are preparing for President-elect Donald Trump’s SEC to discard policies that made it easier for them to press companies on their environmental and social practices through the proxy process.

Companies currently can turn to the Securities and Exchange Commission for advice when they would like to keep a shareholder proposal off their annual meeting ballot, giving the agency a role as referee in the process. Guidance issued under President Joe Biden’s SEC reversed policies under the first Trump administration that had granted companies more leeway to bar proposals on social or ethical issues that did not have a ...