A one-person quorum: no discussion, no dissent, no disclosure at the SEC

On September 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission quietly rewrote the rule that decides the number of commissioners who must be present to act on agency business. Under the amended Rule 200.41, whenever the other sitting commissioner is disqualified from a matter, the one remaining commissioner will now constitute a quorum. The agency that was created to protect investors and the public market made this change without public comment, calling it internal “housekeeping” that does not “substantially affect the rights or obligations” of anyone.

Congress designed the SEC as a five-member body, with no more than three commissioners from the president’s party, precisely so that no single political party, and certainly no single person, could steer America’s capital markets alone. Today the Commission has no Democratic members and with Commissioner Hester Peirce’s departure on October 2, it is down to two members. A recusal is all it will take for a single individual to wield the full authority of the Commission.

One person is not a regulator; it is a dictator.

Nearly every action or proposed action by the SEC this term either reduces investor information or silences their voice. The SEC has moved to rescind the Climate Disclosure rule, Say on Pay, and 14a-8’s shareholder proposal rule.........

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