WASHINGTON — Shareholder groups say they’ll keep up pressure on board diversity during this year’s proxy season after a judge invalidated a California state law requiring companies to have directors from underrepresented backgrounds that has inspired similar laws across the country.
Terry Green, a judge for the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, granted a motion for summary judgment from conservative activist group Judicial Watch challenging the constitutionality of Assembly Bill 979.
AB 979 mandated that public companies with principal executive offices in the state incrementally add people from various racial, ethnic and LGBTQ backgrounds to their boards of directors. The law, signed in 2020 by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, was in the second phase during which corporations were required to have at least two people from an underrepresented background on boards with five to eight members, and three for those with at least nine people, by the end of this year.
