Another Lawsuit Seeks to Halt SB 826 – California’s Gender Quota Law for Boards of Directors
On November 13, 2019, another lawsuit was brought in California (in this case in the United States District Court in the Eastern District) challenging California’s gender quota law for boards of directors (SB 826). This lawsuit seeks (i) a declaratory judgment that SB 826 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and (ii) a permanent injunction to halt California’s Secretary of State (Alex Padilla) from enforcing or taking further action to enforce the law. SB 826 is a California law that went into effect on January 1, 2019 requiring publicly-held corporations--those with outstanding shares listed on a major United States stock exchange--that are incorporated in California or that have their principal executive offices here, to have at least one female director on their board by December 31, 2019. No later than December 31, 2021, these corporations must have at least one female director if their number of directors is four or fewer, at least two female directors if their number of directors is five, and at least three female directors if their number of directors is six or more.