1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Shareholder Protection Act of 2017 . 2. Findings Congress finds that— (1) corporations make significant political contributions and expenditures that directly or indirectly influence the election of candidates and support or oppose political causes; (2) decisions to use corporate funds for political contributions and expenditures are usually made by corporate boards and executives, rather than shareholders; (3) corporations, acting through boards and executives, are obligated to conduct business for the best interests of their owners, the shareholders; (4) historically, shareholders have not had a way to know, or to influence, the political activities of corporations they own; (5) shareholders and the public have a right to know how corporate managers are spending company funds to make political contributions and expenditures benefitting candidates, political parties, and political causes; (6) corporations should be accountable to shareholders in making political contributions or expenditures affecting Federal governance and public policy; and (7) requiring a corporation to obtain the express approval of shareholders prior to making political contributions or expenditures will establish necessary accountability. 3. Shareholder approval of corporate political activity The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ( 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 14B ( 15 U.S.C. 78n–2 ) the following: 14C. Shareholder approval of certain political expenditures and disclosure of votes of institutional investors (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term expenditure for political activities — (A) means— (i) an independent expenditure (as defined in section 301(17) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 ( 52 U.S.C. 30101(17) ))