In late 2020, rumor had it that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Biden Administration would likely move to encourage or require more robust disclosure of environmental-social-governance (ESG) and climate-related risks.1 Therefore, it came as no surprise when the Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Allison Herren Lee, released a statement on February 24, 2021, directing the SEC s Division of Corporate Finance to focus on climate-related disclosure in public company filings.2 Although the statement did not apply to the municipal bond market, we have observed that the SEC s Office of Municipal Securities often follows suit after the Division of Corporate Finance releases guidance on risk disclosure matters. For example, on May 4, 2020, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Director of the Office of Municipal Securities Rebecca Olsen issued a statement encouraging municipal securities issuers and obligors to provide disclosure relating to the effect
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In late 2020, rumor had it that the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) under the Biden Administration would likely move
to encourage or require more robust disclosure of
environmental-social-governance (ESG) and climate-related risks.
1
Therefore, it came as no surprise when the Acting Chair of the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Allison Herren Lee,
released a statement on February 24, 2021, directing the SEC s
Division of Corporate Finance to focus on climate-related
disclosure in public company filings.
2 Although the statement did not
apply to the municipal bond market, we have observed that the
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Environmental issues; climate change; and environmental, social and governance issues or ESG. These issues are all the talk, at least since the Biden administration came to Washington and took over. The SEC, which has not updated its environmental disclosure requirements in a decade, suddenly cannot get enough.
Now the agency has a senior staff position dedicated to the environment. The Acting Chair directed the Division of Corporation Finance to review the out of date Commission disclosure standards. And, the Division of Enforcement entered the fray with a press release on March 4, 2021 announcing a new task force lead by the Division’s Acting Deputy Director named the Climate and ESG Task Force.
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On February 11, 2021, the Acting Chair of the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC or Commission ), Allison Herren Lee, announced that the
Division of Enforcement will no longer recommend to the Commission
settlement offers conditioned upon waivers of certain automatic
disqualifications that arise following violations of federal
securities laws.
1 The announcement marks a return to the
Commission s long-standing, prior practice of segregating the
waiver application process from settlement negotiations. This
practice was briefly abandoned beginning in July 2019 when then-SEC
Chairman Jay Clayton announced that settling parties may submit