Jan. 17, 2020
Dear SEC Rule Comments, One of SEC's primary responsibilities is to protect investors. It is unacceptable that SEC is attempting to silence shareholders raising their voices on issues regarding the management of companies they own. Shareholders have a right to demand accountability from corporations. SEC should support a robust system of checks and balances between the owners of corporate wealth and companies’ management, not shutting down the main path for providing shareholder input. SEC's new rules would make it harder for investors to raise emerging issues with managers, meaning that it would halt progress toward addressing critical issues impacting companies and our communities over the long term. Years before Boeing’s 737 MAX model aircraft killed hundreds of people, the company’s shareholders filed proposals asking for more transparency about the company’s lobbying, citing concerns about the company’s influence over regulators. Had the new rules been in place, those shareholders’ efforts to hold Boeing’s management accountable would have been stopped in their tracks. The SEC should be supporting channels for shareholders to seek accountability, not suppressing them. Drop the proposed rules. Sincerely, jess zelniker [redacted]