Companies must allow national healthcare votes

The Securities and Exchange Commission, reversing a previous stance, says that companies must allow shareholder votes on corporate support for national healthcare:

The SEC has told Boeing, General Motors, United Technologies, Wendy’s International and Xcel Energy over the last several months that they may not omit the health care proposal from their proxy materials.

The SEC responded that, in that past, on other issues, it has reversed its stance on shareholder votes due to changing societal stances and that national healthcare fits that.

Very interesting.

And, in an election year, it’s certainly a campaign wedge issue. Perhaps Barack Obama will become less cautious in his healthcare recommendations.

Beyond that, it not only can, but should be, a wedge issue for activists to push companies that have already passed shareholder resolutions of support for national healthcare to go beyond that to outright lobbying in favor of it.