§ 24-2-805 — Voting ownership interests

(a) (1) All shares held directly or indirectly by or on behalf of a pension benefit plan or its beneficiaries, or both, shall be voted upon solely in the pecuniary interest of the pension benefit plan participants. (2) Voting to further a nonpecuniary, environmental, social, political, ideological, or other benefit or goal is prohibited. (b) Unless no economically practicable alternative is available: (1) A fiduciary shall not adopt a practice of following the recommendations of a proxy advisory firm or other service provider unless the firm or service provider has a practice of following proxy voting guidelines that are consistent with the fiduciary's obligation to act based only upon pecuniary factors and makes a written commitment to do so; and (2) Plan assets shall not be entrusted to a fiduciary unless that fiduciary has a practice of following guidelines when engaging with portfolio companies and voting shares or proxies that match the obligation of the pension benefit plan to act based only upon pecuniary factors and makes a written commitment to do so. (c) Authority to vote upon shares as discussed in this section shall be in the hands of the existing state official or board who is politically accountable to the people of the State of Arkansas for each pension benefit plan. (d) All voting authority shall reside with the appropriate state official or board, except that the state official or board may delegate that authority to a person who has a practice of following guidelines that match the governmental entity's obligation to act based only on pecuniary factors and makes a written commitment to do so. (e) (1) All proxy votes shall be tabulated and reported annually to each pension benefit plan's board of trustees. (2) (A) For each vote, the report shall contain a vote caption, the plan's vote, the recommendation of company management and, if applicable, the proxy advisor's recommendation. (B) These reports shall be posted on a publicly available webpage on each applicable board of trustees' website.

Legislative History

Added by Act 2023, No. 498,§ 1, eff. 8/1/2023.