Many Americans own public company shares, either directly, or indirectly through a mutual fund, certain pension funds, or index fund.
Regulations for public companies are designed on the premise that management is ultimately responsible to shareholders' interests -- to maximize company value. This is often done via a board of directors.
When institutional ownership of a company (index funds, mutual funds, etc.) reaches a high percentage, management is free to provide for themselves lavish salaries & bonuses. These institutions don't vote. There is often abuse by management & the B.O.D.
To ensure this doesn't happen, we propose a federal law:
* Shareholder-made proposals: don't count abstentions & non-votes in the total.
* Management-made proposals: count abstentions and non-votes as NO.