Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, today, I am especially proud to rise in support of a bill that has been worked on very hard.

I want to first thank Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry; of course, my colleague, the chair of the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, Carolyn Maloney; Chairwoman Beatty; and, of course, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) for all of their support in working to pull this bill together, the Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019.

This legislation is the culmination of years of methodical work and the continuation of priorities dating back to our Wall Street reform work following the financial crisis. Indeed, as my colleagues who were here in Congress in 2009 and 2010 will remember well, many of us, in the wake of the financial crisis, were vocal about how the lack of diversity and inclusion across corporate America and, in particular, at senior levels and on boards of financial institutions helped contribute to the financial crisis.

Corporate America should reflect the diversity of the markets they seek to serve. This is the right thing to do and the smart business decision to make.

H.R. 5084, the Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act, focuses on disclosures and transparency. I firmly believe that transparency is the first step to accountability.

Specifically, the bill does the following.

Public companies will be required to publish diversity data annually in their proxy statements, based on voluntary self-identification, on the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of their board of directors, the nominees for the board of directors, and executive officers. Similarly, companies will publish data on those who voluntarily self- identified as veterans. Public companies will also have disclosure requirements on the adoption of any board policy, plan, or strategy to promote diversity.

The bill directs the Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion of the SEC to publish, every 3 years, best practices for compliance with the disclosure requirements of this bill, including Federal solicitation of public comments. The bill also directs the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion to establish an advisory council, which includes issuers and investors, to advise on these best practices.

This is a simple, effective, and impactful bill that, through transparency and reporting, informs markets, investors, and employees about the status of diversity and inclusion across corporate America.

This bill has earned support that is very broad, from civil rights groups, such as the NAACP and the National Urban League, as well as from the Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Institutional Investors, and LPL Financial, the Nation's largest independent broker-dealer.

It is rare for a bill to have such broad support from civil rights groups, corporate America, and the investment community, but this broad support is evidence of the urgency and commonsense nature of this legislation. This bill will also gain the support of many of our Republican colleagues across the aisle, both in the committee and here on the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I ask, therefore, that all Members vote in support of this bill.

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