The Securities and Exchange Commission has re-opened the public comment period for its controversial proposal to provide shareholders access to corporate proxies to nominate director candidates.

According to the Dec. 14 SEC press release, to move aims to "seek views on additional data and related analyses received by the Commission at or after the close of the original public comment period," which ended Aug. 17. The plan drew more than 500 comment letters before the deadline.

The SEC statement also says the staff "continues to expect to make a final recommendation to the Commission early next year."

As proposed, the plan, published by the SEC in June following a 3-2 commission vote, would let investors who've held at least 1 percent of a large company's shares for one year nominate a limited number of directors on the corporate proxy. The ownership threshold would be as high as 5 percent for shareholders of the smallest companies. Shareholders would also have the right to submit other proposals about nomination, procedural, or disclosure matters that currently are off-limits unless the board decides to allow them. Republican Commissioners Troy Paredes and Kathleen Casey opposed the proposal.

Critics argue that a uniform federal rule granting proxy access encroaches too much on internal corporate affairs, which are traditionally the domain of state corporate law. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other opponents to the plan have questioned the SEC's authority to put such a rule in place.

However, a provision included in the final version of the House financial regulation reform bill passed Dec. 11, would affirm the SEC's authority to prescribe such a rule, to thwart off a legal challenge.

The latest attempt to craft a proxy access rule follows two failed attempts by the SEC to resolve the issue during the Bush Administration.

Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Meanwhile, the SEC will consider final action this week on its proposal to enhance the disclosures public companies provide to shareholders about executive compensation, risk, director and nominee qualifications, and compensation consultant conflicts, among other things.

The other item on the agenda for the Dec. 16 meeting is consideration of amendments to the investment adviser custody rule aimed at strengthening safeguards of investor funds controlled by investment advisers.

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