The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved H.R. 5084, which would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require publicly traded corporations to disclose diversity information about their boards of directors, nominees for the boards, and executive officers of the corporation. The bill, introduced on Nov. 14 by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and cosponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), David Scott (D-Ga.), and Gilbert Ray Cisneros Jr. (D-Calif.), would also require the Securities and Exchange Commission to report annually to Congress an analysis of diversity trends. The SEC would also have to establish a Diversity Advisory Group to work on initiatives to increase gender, racial, and ethnic diversity on corporate boards. If the bill does become law, the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion would also be tasked with publishing best practices for compliance with disclosure requirements on diversity.
The bill, called the “Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019,” is “the culmination of years of work dedicated to increasing transparency so that the highest levels of corporate America can begin to reflect the diversity of America,” said Rep. Meeks when the House passed it.
