Proxy access (meaning the ability of shareholders to include their director nominees on the company's proxy ballot) has been an important issue among activist investors for nearly a decade. The concept picked up steam in 2010 when the SEC adopted a controversial proxy access rule pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. That rule was promptly vacated by a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which the SEC chose not to appeal. Left intact, however, was the SEC's related amendment to its Rule 14-8, which allows eligible shareholders to submit for inclusion in a company's proxy materials proposals designed to facilitate proxy access.