BILL NUMBER: S636A
SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the business corporation law and the limited liability
company law, in relation to requiring certain companies and corporations
to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnicity of their
employees
 
PURPOSE:
To provide data to the public about the gender, ethnicity, and race of
companies' employees.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one adds a new paragraph (e) to the business corporation law to
require corporations which are required to file an Employer Information
report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission(EEOC)to file a copy of that form with the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State shall publish the data on its official website
within 90 days of receipt or as soon thereafter as practicable.
Section two amends paragraph 1 of subdivision (e) of section 301 of the
limited liability company law to require limited liability companies
which are required to file an Employer Information report EEO-1 with the
federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a copy of
that form with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall
publish the data on its official website within 90 days of receipt or as
soon thereafter as practicable.
Section three provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent years, consumers have become more interested in supporting
companies that share their values. Investors are also increasingly
concerned with companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
standards.when they make investment decisions. In response, companies
often tout their commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI),
environmental goals, or other causes, but there is little data available
to the public to verify these claims.
In addition, current and prospective employees have an interest in eval-
uating the DEI practices of employers, but do not have access to the
company-wide employee demographic data needed to make such an assess-
ment.
This bill would require those companies which are required to file an
Employer Information report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a copy of that form with the
Secretary of State. The EEO-1 form is required for all private sector
employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or
more employees, and contains demographic workforce data, including data
by race/ethnicity, sex, and job categories. The Secretary of State would
post this information on its website, making it easily available to the
public. Having this data publicly available will help create an environ-
ment where we-hold our companies accountable, provide consumers and
employees with the data to make good decisions, and provide investors
with the information to deploy capital in a manner in keeping with their
values.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.8449/ 5.8435 of 2022, veto no. 40.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S636: 408 business corporation law
S636A: 408 business corporation law