The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has granted no-action requests by six companies to omit low-threshold proxy access proposals, while rejecting a petition from KSW Inc.

In separate rulings on Wednesday, the staff of the SEC's Corporation Finance Division approved the requests by Textron, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Chiquita Brands, Sprint Nextel, MEMC Electronic Materials to exclude access resolutions filed by retail investor activists. 

The non-binding proposals, which were based on language prepared by the U.S. Proxy Exchange (USPX), called for a 1 percent ownership threshold for at least two years. The six resolutions also would have allowed access nominees from groups of 100 or more investors who each hold at least $2,000 in company stock for one year. 

Textron, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs all successfully argued that the USPX resolution improperly constitutes multiple proposals and thus could be excluded. The SEC staff concluded that the proposal's sixth paragraph, which discussed events that would not amount to a "change in control," constituted a "separate and distinct" matter. The companies made other arguments to omit the USPX resolution, but the SEC staff did not address those points.

Sprint, MEMC, and Chiquita all asserted that the USPX proposal was impermissibly vague and indefinite. The companies objected to the proposal's reference to the ownership eligibility requirements of SEC Rule 14a-8(b) that investors need to meet to file shareholder proposals. The staff agreed, noting that “many other shareholders may not be familiar with the requirements.”

KSW, a small-cap firm based in Long Island City, N.Y., was seeking to exclude a binding access proposal filed by the Furlong Fund, which is seeking a 2 percent for one year standard. KSW, which adopted its own access bylaw with a 5 percent threshold, argued that it had substantially implemented the Furlong proposal. The SEC staff was not persuaded, noting the difference in ownership levels required to nominate board candidates to appear in the company's proxy materials.

So far, ISS is tracking 19 proxy access proposals for 2012 meetings. An access resolution (that called for a 3 percent stake for three years requirement) was withdrawn at Hewlett-Packard after the company agreed to put an access bylaw on the ballot in 2013.