Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Petition

Endorsed as of July 20, 2026 by 12,586 Individuals

To: Securities and Exchange Commission

Dear Chairman Atkins and Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda,

We write on behalf of workers, retirees, pension beneficiaries, consumers, and communities who deserve a financial system that serves the public good rather than concentrating power in the hands of wealthy insiders. We urge you to preserve the shareholder proposal rule as a critical tool that allows shareholders to hold corporate management accountable and challenge the growing concentration of corporate power in our economy. The SEC should protect investors and fair markets — not help consolidate power in the hands of billionaire oligarchs, corporate executives, and other insiders.

For eighty years, the ability of shareholders to raise questions before the companies they own has been one of the most effective ways for regular shareholders — including workers’ pensions, responsible asset managers, and small investors — to weigh in on corporate decision-making. That is precisely why these rights are under attack. Weakening the proposal process would silence investors on workers’ rights, climate risk, racial equity, political spending, executive pay, and other issues that affect companies and the broader economy.

When investors ask a clothing retailer to account for supply chain vulnerabilities, they are protecting brand equity and long-term profitability. When they ask a pharmaceutical company to address legislative risk embedded in its earnings guidance, they are doing the analytical work that sound investing requires. When they flag water scarcity exposure for agricultural, beverage, semiconductor, or mining companies, they are surfacing risks that conventional financial filings routinely omit — risks that eventually become losses borne by ordinary shareholders. When they ask for accountability from management for not respecting workers’ freedom of association, they are pushing companies to address risks that come from a low-morale, high-turnover workforce.

Corporate management should not get to decide which investor concerns are acceptable and which are too inconvenient to appear on a ballot. Whether shareholders are raising concerns about climate risk, labor standards, political spending, racial equity, executive compensation, or corporate misconduct, the point is the same: investors need meaningful tools to challenge insiders and protect the long-term value of the companies they own.

If the shareholder proposal process is curtailed, the practical result would be a transfer of power: away from workers’ pensions, small shareholders, and the broader investing public — and toward corporate insiders and a small circle of wealthy and powerful actors. Blind spots will accumulate. Risks that could have been surfaced early will compound, spreading across companies and sectors until they become systemic.

The boards and executives of public companies should answer to regular shareholders instead of being insulated from their input and accountability. That principle is essential for investor protection and fair markets that serve everyone — not just a powerful few.