The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted requests by Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase, and three other companies to exclude proxy access proposals from investors.

Access proponents had anticipated the Feb. 11 SEC staff rulings after the commission’s Republican majority voted in November to allow firms to resume omitting resolutions to permit shareholder-nominated board candidates to appear on management proxy statements. The SEC declined to adopt an alternative rule that would have allowed investors with at least a 5 percent stake to file access bylaw resolutions.

“The ‘no action’ rulings were expected. We believe they were based on a flawed rule-making process,” said Richard Ferlauto, director of pension and benefit policy at the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which co-filed four of the access resolutions. “We will announce our intentions in the next few weeks.”

The issue may be headed back to the courts. While Ferlauto declined to comment this week on what access proponents would do, he has said in the past that investors may resort to litigation or seek access legislation. AFSCME waged an earlier court fight with American International Group that resulted in a 2006 federal appeals court ruling that opened the way for access proposals to appear on three company ballots in 2007.

AFSCME co-filed its proposals at Bear Stearns and JP Morgan with the state pension systems for North Carolina and New Jersey. The SEC staff also allowed apparel maker Kellwood to exclude an access resolution from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and permitted E*TRADE Financial to omit an AFSCME proposal. The SEC also approved a “no action” request by Ohio-based Croghan Bancshares to bar a resolution from an individual shareholder. To review the SEC’s rulings, please visit here.

In the meantime, investors are pursuing other strategies this year to promote board accountability. AFSCME has submitted a binding proposal at Apache calling for the reimbursement of solicitation expenses incurred by successful dissident investors in “short slate” contests. An individual investor at ExxonMobil filed a proposal that urges the oil company to require future board nominees to hold $3 million in company stock or represent institutions that own 5 million voting shares. ExxonMobil unsuccessfully petitioned the SEC for permission to exclude that resolution.

In addition, labor funds and other investors have filed more than 18 proposals urging firms to separate the roles of CEO and board chairs. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and other investors plan to submit more than 100 resolutions seeking majority threshold voting in board elections.