Whereas certain policymakers have demonstrated increased interest in evaluating companies based on environmental, social, and governance or ESG performance metrics; Whereas certain policymakers have called for Federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to require public companies to disclose more ESG-related information; Whereas the securities disclosure regime of the SEC has for decades been guided by a standard of materiality first established by the Securities Act of 1933 and affirmed several times by the Supreme Court, including the decision TSC Industries Inc. v. Northway Inc. (426 U.S. 438 (1976)), which held that information is material (and subject to disclosure) if there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable shareholder would consider it important in deciding how to vote ; Whereas materiality depends upon whether information is important to an investor at any time, making it a durable standard which provides a framework for addressing new issues and ignoring issues which have lost importance; Whereas the materiality standard has been the bedrock principle governing Federal securities disclosure law for over eight decades; Whereas the materiality standard fosters strong capital markets that create a competitive advantage for the United States by enabling the efficient flow of capital and labor; Whereas the materiality standard is critical for maintaining efficient disclosure regimes that limit burdensome requirements, filter unimportant information, and prevent confusing information overload for investors; Whereas, in 1976, Justice Thurgood Marshall writing for the majority in the TSC Industries Inc. v. Northway Inc. decision noted that some information is of such dubious significance that insistence on its disclosure may accomplish more harm than good ; Whereas certain policymakers intend to reorient the securities disclosure regime to require disclosure of immaterial information to achieve social and political goals