Congressman Revives Effort to Monitor Corporate Donors

Rep. Paul E. Gillmor, an Ohio Republican, introduced a bill this month that would require corporations to tell their shareholders how much money they give to charities each year — and to name the largest recipients.

The bill, H.R. 887, is designed to give shareholders more information about the companies they invest in and to discourage corporate managers from using company dollars to support personal causes.

The bill is similar to legislation Mr. Gillmor introduced two years ago (The Chronicle, November 13, 1997). At that time, he asked the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that monitors corporate transactions, to study the feasibility of the proposal and issue a report to Congress.

The commission published public comments it received on the measure (The Chronicle, January 15, 1998), but it has not yet issued a report. An S.E.C. spokesman said the commission was “still studying” the issue.

Mr. Gillmor said he was disappointed that the report has taken so long. He said he hopes to receive it soon, but he is prepared to move forward with his bill without it. “We already know this is feasible because a lot of companies already do it voluntarily,” he said.

In the latest version of his bill, Mr. Gillmor has added a requirement that top corporate executives disclose large company gifts made to charities on whose boards they or their spouses sit. “That’s clearly a red-flag area,” he said.

Mr. Gillmor said he will not re-introduce a companion bill he proposed two years ago that would have required companies to give their shareholders a say in which charities receive corporate donations. While he still thinks that is a good idea, he said he was sympathetic to complaints that it could have created administrative nightmares for some companies.

A copy of the legislative proposal is available from the Library of Congress’s Web site at http://thomas.loc.gov.