Welcome to Goodwin's Public Company Advisory News Roundup, which highlights the latest developments with SEC and stock exchange regulatory activity, corporate governance and other topics relevant to public company counseling and compliance.
In this issue
- SEC Introduces Capital Markets Data Visualizations Page
- SEC Filing Fee Rate to Decrease Effective October 1, 2025
- SEC Announces New Director of Enforcement
- NYSE Releases Guide on Board Structure and Composition
- USDC Judge Denies Request for Preliminary Injunction to Enjoin California Climate Disclosure Rules
- SEC Launches Task Force on Use of AI to Improve the Agency's Efficiency and Enhance Innovation
1 SEC Introduces Capital Markets Data Visualizations Page
On August 13, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release announcing the availability of a new capital markets statistics and data visualizations web page. As described by the SEC, the webpage provides statistics presented in time series charts to show market trends, pie charts to show distribution across different categories, as well as heat maps to show geographic distributions. The visuals are interactive, allowing the public to explore the information in which they are interested. Coverage areas include: initial public offerings, Regulation D offerings, corporate bond offerings, number of reporting issuers, trade order volume and much more. The agency has also published a lighthearted one-minute video with information on accessing the data and how to generate customized reports.
2 SEC Filing Fee Rate to Decrease Effective October 1, 2025
On August 25, 2025, the SEC announced that the fees that public companies and other issuers are required to pay to register their securities will decrease from $153.10 per million dollars to $138.10 per million dollars. The new fee rate will be effective Wednesday, October 1, 2025 and will apply to the registration of securities under Section 6(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, the repurchase of securities under Section 13(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and proxy solicitations and statements in corporate control transactions under Section 14(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
3 SEC Announces New Director of Enforcement
On August 21, 2025, the SEC announced the appointment of Judge Margaret "Meg" Ryan as Director of the Division of Enforcement, effective September 2, 2025. Ms. Ryan is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She was nominated to the court in 2006 by President George W. Bush and reached senior status in August 2020. Before her tenure as judge, she was a partner at two law firms, Wiley Rein & Fielding and Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott.
4 NYSE Releases Guide on Board Structure and Composition
As part of its Public Company Series, the New York Stock Exchange, in collaboration with J.P. Morgan, released a guide on Board Structure and Composition earlier this month. The piece is intended to provide insight into the evolving expectations of corporate boards in a continuously changing business environment. Incorporating perspectives from leading law firms, auditing firms, academics and other advisors, the guide discusses:
- Best practices in building a highly functioning board
- Approaches to standing and special board committees and the roles they play
- The board's role in strategic oversight and governance
- The board's role in risk, compliance and crisis management
- Board refreshment and succession planning
- Board assessment
- Stockholder engagement
The guide provides an array of perspectives that should be useful to directors, executives and others involved in corporate governance in evaluating their companies' current strengths and potential areas for improvement.
5 USDC Judge Denies Request for Preliminary Injunction to Enjoin California Climate Disclosure Rules
On August 13, 2025, Judge Otis D. Wright, II of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a ruling denying a motion by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other parties to enjoin the two California laws requiring disclosure by many companies doing business in California of their climate related impacts (SBs 253 and 261). The plaintiffs asserted that SBs 253 and 261 on their face violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by inappropriately compelling disclosure of information. In its analysis of SB 253, the court found that the plaintiffs are unlikely to show that information requirements are not reasonably related to a substantial government interest and are unjustified or unduly burdensome. In its analysis of SB 261, the court found that the plaintiffs are unlikely to show that its requirements fail to directly advance a substantial government interest and are more extensive than necessary to serve that interest. Accordingly, it ruled that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their First Amendment claims such that a preliminary injunction was not appropriate.
6 SEC Launches Task Force on Use of AI to Improve the Agency's Efficiency and Enhance Innovation
On August 1, 2025, the SEC announced the launch of a task force on artificial intelligence (AI) that will spearhead the agency's efforts to enhance innovation and efficiency in its operations through the responsible use of AI. Valerie Szczepanik, the SEC's Chief AI Officer, has been appointed to lead the task force. The announcement included the following quote from SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on the goals of the initiative: "The AI Task Force will empower staff across the SEC with AI-enabled tools and systems to responsibly augment the staff's capacity, accelerate innovation, and enhance efficiency and accuracy. By ingraining innovation into our culture SEC-wide, we will further our mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation."
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