The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should require companies to disclose their spending on political campaigns, said SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar.

"Investors are not receiving adequate disclosure, and as the investor's advocate, the Commission should act swiftly to rectify the situation," said Aguilar, a Democrat on the five-member commission, in remarks prepared for a Washington securities-law conference today. "Withholding information from shareholders is a fundamental deprivation that undermines the securities regulatory framework."

Aguilar said that the 2010 Supreme Court decision that permitted undisclosed corporate campaign spending has left shareholders "often in the dark as to whether the companies they own, or contemplate owning, are making political expenditures." He pointed out shareholders at 50 companies requested in 2011 that political spending be put up for stockholder votes.