From a great post at the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation:

A new bill that has been introduced in the House, H.R. 1053, would direct the SEC to issue regs to require public companies to disclose political expenditures in their annual reports and on their websites. While the bill’s chances for passage in the House are reasonably good, that is not the case in the Senate. In the absence of legislation, some proponents of political spending disclosure have turned instead to private ordering, often through shareholder proposals. So far, those proposals have rarely won the day, perhaps in large part because of the absence of support from large institutional investors. But that notable absence has recently come in for criticism from an influential jurist, Delaware Chief Justice Leo Strine. Will it make a difference?

The history of efforts to mandate political spending disclosure through rulemaking is one of profound frustration for the proponents. Rulemaking petitions were filed with SEC in 2011 and 2014 to no avail, notwithstanding over a million signatures in support in one case. Some in Congress were so concerned that the SEC would take action on the petitions that specific prohibitions were included as part of Omnibus Spending Bills. But as discussed in this PubCo post, former SEC Chair Mary Jo White was firmly against any such undertaking, contending that the SEC should not get involved in politics, and her successor has not really addressed the issue.

Full report found here.