The Shareholder Political Transparency Act requires corporations to disclose their political spending to shareholders and the SEC, increasing transparency and accountability in corporate political activities.
Bill Foster
Representative
IL-11
The Shareholder Political Transparency Act of 2025 requires corporations to disclose their political contributions and expenditures to the SEC and shareholders, including details on recipients, amounts, and purposes. The SEC will make these reports public and assess corporate compliance annually, while the GAO will evaluate the SEC's oversight effectiveness. This aims to increase transparency and accountability in corporate political spending, ensuring shareholders are informed about how their investments are used to influence elections and public policy.
New Bill Mandates Companies Disclose Political Spending: Quarterly Reports Required for Shareholders and SEC
This proposed legislation, the Shareholder Political Transparency Act of 2025, aims to pull back the curtain on how publicly traded companies spend money in the political arena. It amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, requiring companies issuing stock (issuers) to report their political activity expenditures regularly.
Opening the Books on Political Cash
Under this act, companies would need to file quarterly reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and directly to their shareholders. These reports aren't just top-line numbers; they must detail each political expenditure, including the date, amount, and recipient. If the money went to a candidate, the report needs to list their name, the office they're running for, and their party. Payments to trade associations or other organizations used for political activities also need to be spelled out. Critically, the SEC is mandated to make these quarterly filings publicly accessible online, meaning anyone could look up a company's recent political spending.
The Annual Tally and Future Plans
Beyond the quarterly updates, companies must include specific political spending details in their annual reports to shareholders. This includes a summary of any single expenditure over $10,000 and a summary for any election where total spending topped $10,000. Think of it as a year-end recap of significant political checks written. Furthermore, companies will need to describe, as far as they know, the specific nature of political spending planned for the next fiscal year and the total amount they intend to spend. This gives shareholders not just a look back, but a glimpse into the company's future political playbook.
Keeping Watch: Oversight Included
The bill doesn't just rely on companies self-reporting. It tasks the SEC with conducting annual assessments to check if companies are actually complying with these new rules and requires the SEC to report its findings to Congress. To ensure the SEC itself is effectively overseeing this, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is instructed to periodically evaluate the SEC's performance and report back to Congress. This creates a system of checks designed to ensure the transparency goals are met. While providing shareholders with unprecedented insight into corporate political influence, companies will face new compliance tasks and associated administrative efforts to meet these detailed quarterly and annual reporting requirements.