Sen. Menendez calls for action on executive pay disclosure rule

Sen. Robert Menendez urged the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday to move forward with new regulations requiring publicly traded companies to disclose the salaries of their chief executives.

The New Jersey Democrat drafted the provision as part of the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.  It would also require firms to report the median salary of their workers, and the differential between top company earners and rank-and-file employees.

“It’s evident that excessive compensation schemes provided part of the fuel for the financial crash,” Menendez said Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee. “And by requiring companies to disclose just how much, and how skewed, CEO pay can be, there’s a strong possibility they’ll think more about their compensation structures.”

Nearly a year after Dodd-Frank was enacted, financial regulators are still in the process of enacting hundreds of rules designed to hold Wall Street accountable and prevent another economic crisis.

Menendez’s remarks come a day after Mary Jo White, President Obama’s nominee to lead the SEC, vowed “unrelenting” enforcement of Wall Street, if she is confirmed.

While required by Dodd-Frank, the executive pay disclosure rule has no deadline for enactment. Menendez acknowledged that some companies are objecting on grounds that the requirements are overly burdensome.

But he said it is important to shine a light on skyrocketing executive pay, given that median family income fell over the last decade.