Senate Financial Services Committee Considers Proposed Legislation on "Diversity Data"

The U.S. Senate Financial Services Committee (the "Committee") considered five bills, which would mandate that regulated entities disclose "diversity data".

At a hearing titled "By the Numbers: How Diversity Data Can Measure Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion," the Committee considered:

• H.R. 1277, the "Improving Corporate Governance through Diversity Act of 2021," which would, with guidance from the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, mandate that public companies annually disclose their board of directors', nominees' and senior executive officers' self-identified gender, race, ethnicity and veteran status;

• H.R. ____, the "Diverse Investment Advisers Act," which would mandate that SEC-registered companies (i) consider at least one diverse asset manager and (ii) report the extent to which they contract diverse asset managers to the SEC;

• H.R. ____, the "Diversity Data Accountability Act," which would mandate reporting requirements under Dodd-Frank Section 342 for regulated entities;

• H.R. ____, the "Diversity in Financial Regulatory Advisory Committees Act," which would require advisory committees seeking to fill vacancies at the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the OCC, the CFPB, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the National Credit Union Administration, the SEC and the FDIC to (i) report the advisory committees' demographics and (ii) consider "at least one individual reflective of gender diversity and one individual reflective of racial or ethnic diversity"; and

• H.R. ____, the "Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Banking Act," which would (i) mandate that federal banking regulators include in the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System a diversity and inclusion component and (ii) require the compulsory reporting of diversity and inclusion assessments.

The Senate hearing followed a similarly themed hearing in the House: "House Financial Services Committee Considers Proposed Legislation on Diversity and Equity."