To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to clarify the application of prudence and exclusive purpose duties to the exercise of shareholder rights.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Wilson …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mrs. Houchin introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Summary
What This Bill Does
Clarifies that retirement plan fiduciaries must act solely in economic interest of participants when exercising shareholder rights like proxy voting. Requires maintaining records of all proxy votes.
Who Benefits and How
Plan participants assured voting serves their financial interests. Retirement funds protected from non-economic voting. Anti-ESG advocates achieve statutory limits on social investing.
Who Bears the Burden and How
ESG-focused asset managers face restrictions on proxy voting practices. Investment managers must document economic basis for votes. Social/environmental advocacy through proxies constrained.
Key Provisions
- Requires acting solely in economic interest for shareholder rights
- Does not require voting every proxy
- Mandates records of all proxy votes and attempts to influence management
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Clarifies ERISA fiduciary duties for proxy voting and shareholder rights to prioritize economic interests
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Restrict ESG considerations in retirement plan voting"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology