Jan. 23, 2020
January 23, 2020
Mr. Jay Clayton, Chairman
US Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549
Re: S7-23-19 (Procedural Requirements and Resubmission Thresholds Under Exchange Act Rule 14a-8)
Dear Chairman Clayton,
I am the treasurer of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago and we are shareholders in a number of corporations because are saving money for the care of our elderly members. Since so many of us are elderly now, we are no longer able to engage in many of the charitable, religious, and educational activities that we used to, but the savings that have to put by for the future can be put to good use by submitting shareholder resolutions that bring to the attention of corporations various issues of justice including shareholder rights, worker rights, consumer rights, and ecological issues. We assume that the leaders of corporations are decent human beings who cannot know everything and we provide a service when we can bring issues of concern to their attention. Everyone benefits, including the corporations and their shareholders.
Making the eligibility requirements for making resolutions more restrictive will make it more difficult for small shareholders like us to communicate effectively with the leaders of corporations and with other shareholders, even though resolutions submitted from small shareholders have often been a source of good ideas and changes that have benefitted the corporations, their customers, and their workers, as well as society as a whole. Cutting off this source of information will deprive the leaders of corporations of ideas that, while beneficial, they may otherwise never have considered.
Please do not cut off this source of good ideas for the improvement of our corporations, which in turn improves the lives of their shareholders, their employees, their customers, and all others whom their businesses affect, by restricting the requirements for making resolutions. I appreciate the difficult and important work that you do, which affects millions of people, and pray that the decisions you make will be the best for all concerned.
Sincerely yours,
Sr. Mary Ann O'Ryan, OSB
Treasurer
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago
7430 N. Ridge Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60645