Petition to the SEC for Rulemaking on Black Lives Matter pledges

WASHINGTON - May 31, 2021 - PRLog -- Last year, after the murder of George Floyd, 251 American companies vowed to combat systemic racism within their own organizations. In aggregate, these companies pledged $65 billion to bolster their diversity and equity initiatives. One year later, only $500 million has been allocated toward these efforts.

William Michael Cunningham submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) that:

• Calls for the Commission to initiate notice and comment rulemaking to develop a comprehensive framework requiring any public companies or issuers that have promised financial support for Black Lives Matter ("BLM Pledge") to accurately disclose, on a timely basis, all activity related to that pledge;
• Lays out the statutory authority for the SEC to require BLM Pledge activity disclosure;
• Discusses the clear materiality of BLM pledges;
• Discusses the importance of BLM Pledge disclosure for companies and the competitive position of U.S. capital markets;
• Points to the growing cost of racial discrimination targeting African Americans and the role a BLM Pledge activity requirement might play in reducing that cost; and
• Points to the impact an observed decline in standards of ethical behavior might have on the truthfulness of voluntary BLM Pledge disclosures.

Enhancing the global competitiveness of America's public companies and the U.S. capital markets -

Lack of performance with respect to BLM pledges will impair the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets and America's public companies by showing that they are untrustworthy. Thus, requiring additional BLM Pledge disclosure will enhance competitiveness.

For more, see https://www.impactinvesting.online/2021/05/blm-pledges-wh...