New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has filed shareholder proposals asking seven companies in the state’s Common Retirement Fund portfolio to disclose their political spending.
In a January 6 announcement, DiNapoli explained that the proposals called on Caesars Entertainment, Match Group, Penn Entertainment, SoFi Technologies, Warner Bros. Discovery , Zillow Group, and Zoom Video Communications to disclose their monetary and non-monetary contribution and expenditures (direct and indirect) to any campaign for or against a candidate, or to influence public opinion on an election or referendum.
Furthermore, proposals sent to The Coca Cola Company and Travelers Companies request that the companies adopt policies that require trade associations, or other third-party groups receiving company money for political activities to report how the funds are being used and which candidates the spending promotes.
“The divisiveness in American political discourse has magnified significant risks for corporations that contribute to political causes. It raises the question of whether any corporate political donations are in shareholders’ interests,” DiNapoli said. “At a minimum companies should voluntarily disclose how much and where they are putting their resources.”
DiNapoli also confirmed that the Retirement Fund was in discussions with some of the companies regarding potential agreements.