Matt Patsky Testifies at Massachusetts State House in Favor of Progressive Tax System
On March 26, 2013, Trillium’s CEO, Matt Patsky, testified before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Taxation in support of House Bill 2687 and Senate Bill 1313. The bills propose the implementation of a tax rate of 8.95% on capital gains, dividends, interest and other types of investment income. “Massachusetts should tax me – and people like me with considerable investment income – at a higher rate than people with more modest means”, Mr. Patsky said in his testimony. “[T]he surest path to stagnant or declining economic growth for the Commonwealth is for this body to continue to delay investment in …
New Report: Pay Day Lending Traps Borrowers in Long-Term Cycle of Debt
The report, an update of Center for Responsible Lending’s (CRL) 2011 report, Big Bank Payday Loans, provides further evidence that “pay day” and “direct deposit advances” trap low-wealth and low-income borrowers in a cycle of expensive and increasing debt, causing serious financial harm. These are short-term balloon loans that borrowers are unable to repay in full when due. The loans carry triple-digit interest rates and lack meaningful underwriting to assess a borrower’s ability to repay. According to the March 21, 2013 report: • In 2011, bank payday borrowers took out an average of 19 loans. • Bank payday borrowers were …
Investors Urge Bank of America to Quit Coal
MARCH 20, 2013 // BOSTON, MA Trillium Asset Management joined a delegation of investors and environmental activists, organized by Rainforest Action Network, to deliver a letter to Bank of America urging the bank to phase out its support of US coal and take a lead in financing the transition to renewable energy. Bank of America continues to be one of the top financiers of coal, even at a time of record coal plant retirements and weakening demand. According to Bloomberg, in the past two years alone Bank of America invested $6.4 billion in coal operations– from coal-fired power plants to …
Proxy Preview: Trillium is “Major Player” — Filing 22 ESG Shareholder Resolutions for 2013
Proxy Preview, which is a collaboration between As You Sow, The Sustainable Investments Institute and Proxy Impact, provides an overview of upcoming votes on environmental and social shareholder resolutions—including advocacy sections for 2013´s most prominent issues. The report notes that as of February 15, 2013, “Investors have filed a total of 365 shareholder resolutions on environmental and social issues, which is more than they had at this point in 2012, when the tally stood at only 345. Political spending resolutions continue to dominate the agenda, totaling one-third of all the proposals filed so far. Resolutions concerning climate and energy, other …
Bloomberg: Apple Requires CEO Cook to Hold 10 Times Salary in Stock
Adam Satariano, a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco, writes: “Apple Inc. (AAPL) is requiring executives to hold more stock as a multiple of their salary, amid pressure from investors to more closely link pay to equity performance as slowing growth batters the shares. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will be required to hold 10 times his base salary in shares, and other senior executive officers must own triple their base salary in stock, according to ownership guidelines that took effect Feb. 6 and are posted on the company’s website. Non-employee directors need to hold five times their annual …
Op-Ed: Citizens United and the 2012 Election: Bad News and Good News
By JEFFREY CLEMENTS Make no mistake, the impact of the Supreme Court’s fiasco in Citizens United v. FEC on the elections and our government was even worse than predicted. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the forces of reform, led by the growing movement for a 28th Amendment to the US Constitution, also made a forceful showing in November. First, the bad news. There is a lot we will never know due to absence of adequate disclosure rules (the proposed DISCLOSE law went to the Senate to die in 2011). What we do know: Election spending came …
WSJ: Citigroup Chairman Not Pressing Bank Breakup
In the autumn of 2012, Trillium Asset Management LLC, on behalf of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, along with the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan filed a shareholder proposal with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) asking the company’s board of directors to explore a possible separation of one or more of its business units. On February 20, 2013, the Wall Street Journal published a story regarding Citigroup Chair Michael O’Neil’s current thinking on exploring a breakup of the bank. Suzanne Kapner writes: “Even thinking about breaking up is hard to do. Just ask Citigroup Inc. Michael E. O’Neill was among …
White Paper: Total Portfolio Activation – A Framework for Creating Social and Environmental Impact Across Asset Classes
Tides and Trillium Asset Management, LLC (Trillium) are pleased to announce the publication of a white paper: Total Portfolio Activation – A Framework for Creating Social and Environmental Impact across Asset Classes. Prepared by Tellus Institute, an interdisciplinary not-for-profit research and policy organization based in Boston, MA – with the guidance and close collaboration of Trillium and Tides – the paper provides concrete steps to help institutional investors begin working toward a fuller activation of their portfolio in support of their mission. The basic insight that drives Total Portfolio Activation is that every investment across every asset class has social and environmental …
Trillium’s 2012 Corporate Engagement Highlights
Susan Baker, Vice President, Trillium Asset Management Over the course of 2012, Trillium engaged with over two dozen major U.S. and foreign corporations to address a wide range of concerns, including climate change, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, Indigenous rights and environmental justice, political spending, labor and human rights, diversity and non-discrimination, and a free and open Internet. Below are a few important highlights. Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture Trillium’s shareholder proposal at J.M. Smucker on the sustainability of its coffee supply chain received 30% support. We re-filed the proposal, focusing on the well-being of coffee-farming families and a sustainability strategy. …
Following Trillium’s Shareholder Engagement, Four Companies Update Non-Discrimination Policies
Directly following Trillium Asset Management’s (Trillium) corporate engagement in the autumn of 2012, Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE), Reinsurance Group of American (NYSE: RGA), W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW) and East West Bancorp* (NASDAQ: EWBC) updated their employment and non-discrimination policies to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. Trillium believes that companies and workers benefit from consistent, corporate-wide, efforts to prevent discrimination, ensuring a respectful and supportive atmosphere for all employees. “The success of our anti-discrimination engagements this fall is reflective of a shift in corporate America. Companies understand the importance of guaranteeing equal protection …
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