Title: Diversity in Corporate Leadership Act of 2020
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
Diversity in Corporate Leadership Act of 2020
This bill requires each issuer to disclose, in any proxy or consent solicitation material for an annual shareholders meeting, the gender, racial, and ethnic composition of its board of directors and nominees for board membership.
The Securities and Exchange Commission shall establish a Diversity Advisory Group, composed of government, academic, and private-sector representatives, to study strategies for increasing gender, racial, and ethnic diversity among the members of issuers' boards of directors.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3367 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3367

   To require the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a 
     Diversity Advisory Group to study and make recommendations on 
 strategies to increase gender, racial, and ethnic diversity among the 
 members of the board of directors of issuers, to amend the Securities 
    Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to make disclosures to 
shareholders with respect to gender, racial, and ethnic diversity, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2020

    Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself, Ms. Smith, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Rosen, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish a 
     Diversity Advisory Group to study and make recommendations on 
 strategies to increase gender, racial, and ethnic diversity among the 
 members of the board of directors of issuers, to amend the Securities 
    Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers to make disclosures to 
shareholders with respect to gender, racial, and ethnic diversity, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Diversity in Corporate Leadership 
Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. DIVERSITY STUDY AND DISCLOSURES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``Advisory Group'' means the Diversity 
        Advisory Group established under subsection (b);
            (2) the term ``Commission'' means the Securities and 
        Exchange Commission; and
            (3) the term ``issuer'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 
        78c).
    (b) Diversity Advisory Group.--
            (1) Establishment.--The Commission shall establish a 
        Diversity Advisory Group, which shall be composed of 
        representatives from the Federal Government, academia, and the 
        private sector.
            (2) Study and recommendations.--The Advisory Group shall--
                    (A) carry out a study on strategies to increase 
                gender, racial, and ethnic diversity among the members 
                of the board of directors of issuers; and
                    (B) not later than 9 months after the establishment 
                of the Advisory Group, issue a report to the 
                Commission, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
                Urban Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on 
                Financial Services of the House of Representatives 
                containing the findings and determinations made in 
                carrying out the study under subparagraph (A), along 
                with recommendations to increase gender, racial, and 
                ethnic diversity among the members of the board of 
                directors of issuers.
            (3) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the date on 
        which the Advisory Group issues the report under paragraph 
        (2)(B), and annually thereafter, the Commission shall issue a 
        report to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
        of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the 
        House of Representatives on the status of gender, racial, and 
        ethnic diversity among the members of the board of directors of 
        issuers.
            (4) Public availability of reports.--The Commission shall 
        make all reports of the Advisory Group available to issuers and 
        the public, including on the website of the Commission.
    (c) Disclosures.--The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 
78a et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 14B the following:

``SEC. 14C. DIVERSITY DISCLOSURES.

    ``The Commission shall, by rule, require each issuer to disclose, 
in any proxy or consent solicitation material for an annual meeting of 
the shareholders of the issuer, the gender, racial, and ethnic 
composition of the board of directors of the issuer and nominees for 
the board of directors.''.
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