Whereas, we believe in full disclosure of Abbott Laboratories’ (“Abbott”) direct and indirect lobbying activities and expenditures to assess whether Abbott’s lobbying is consistent with its expressed goals and in the best interests of stockholders.

Resolved, the stockholders of Abbott request the preparation of a report, updated annually, disclosing:

1. Company policy and procedures governing lobbying, both direct and indirect, and grassroots lobbying communications.

2. Payments by Abbott used for (a) direct or indirect lobbying or (b) grassroots lobbying communications, in each case including the amount of the payment and the recipient.

3. Abbott’s membership in and payments to any tax-exempt organization that writes and endorses model legislation. 

4. Description of management’s decision-making process and the Board’s oversight for making payments described in section 2 above.

For purposes of this proposal, a “grassroots lobbying communication” is a communication directed to the general public that (a) refers to specific legislation or regulation, (b) reflects a view on the legislation or regulation and (c) encourages the recipient of the communication to take action with respect to the legislation or regulation. “Indirect lobbying” is lobbying engaged in by a trade association or other organization of which Abbott is a member.

Both “direct and indirect lobbying” and “grassroots lobbying communications” include efforts at the local, state and federal levels.

The report shall be presented to the Public Policy Committee and posted on Abbott’s website. 

Supporting Statement

We encourage transparency in Abbott’s use of funds to lobby. Abbott spent $32,730,000 from 2010 – 2018 on federal lobbying. This figure does not include lobbying expenditures to influence legislation in states, where Abbott also lobbies in 37 states[1] but disclosure is uneven or absent. For example, Abbott spent $822,611 on lobbying in California from 2010 – 2018. Abbott was one of the top three lobbying medical device companies for the previous five years,[2] and Abbott’s lobbying on infant formula has attracted media scrutiny.[3]

Abbott sits on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, which has spent over $1.5 billion on lobbying since 1998, and also belongs to the Business Roundtable (BRT) and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which together spent over $68 million on lobbying for 2017 and 2018. Both the BRT and NAM are lobbying against the right of shareholders to file resolutions. Abbott does not disclose its payments to trade associations or the amounts used for lobbying.

We are concerned that Abbott’s lack of lobbying disclosure presents significant reputational risk when its lobbying contradicts company public positions. For example, Abbott believes in addressing climate change, yet the Chamber undermined the Paris climate accord. And Abbott supports good health, yet the Chamber has worked to block global antismoking laws. We believe the reputational damage stemming from this misalignment between general policy positions and actual direct and indirect lobbying efforts harms long-term value creation by Abbott. Thus, we urge Abbott to expand its lobbying disclosure.

[1] https://publicintegrity.org/state-politics/here-are-the-interests-lobbying-in-every-statehouse/

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/medical-device-makers-spend-millions-lobbying-loosen-regs-d-c-n940351

[3] https://maplight.org/story/infant-formula-makers-sweetened-mothers-milk-of-politics-with-60-million-in-lobbying-funds/