Sacramento Business Journal –

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson is intent on changing gender inequality in California’s corporate world — from the top down.

Among the 446 publicly traded California-based companies on the Russell 3000 Index, only 15.5 percent of corporate board seats are held by women, according to the Board of Governance Research LLC. More than 25 percent of those companies have no women on their boards.

Senate Bill 826, authored by Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and sponsored by the National Association of Women Business Owners-California, would require publicly held companies to have a minimum number of women on their boards of directors. By the end of 2019, publicly held corporations based in California would be required to have at least one female director. By the end of 2021, companies with five directors would be required to have two female board members, and companies with six or more directors would be required to have at least three female board members. Corporations that failed to meet these quotas would be subject to a fine by the state.

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