(Bloomberg) -- A coalition of institutional investors includingthe California Public Employees’ Retirement Systemis calling on a U.S. regulator not to delay the rule for companiesto disclose the pay gap between their chief executive officersand rank-and-file workers.

The disclosure would help shareholders assess companies in theirportfolios, investors representing $2.5 trillion in assets wrote ina letter Wednesday to Michael Piwowar, acting chairman of the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission. Jay Clayton, who was picked bythe Trump administration to serve as chairman, is scheduled toappear Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee for a hearingon his nomination.

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“The SEC’s pay ratio disclosure rule is thoughtful, balanced andcarefully crafted,” the letter said. “Delaying the implementationof this rule will do a huge disservice to investors.”

Piwowar last month resurfaced the debate about the requirementwhen he asked SEC staff to review it and opened a 45-day publiccomment period.

The rule has drawn criticism from companies, which say the payratio is costly and burdensome to calculate. Piwowar andRepublicans have joined business lobbyists in assailing thedisclosure rule, saying it isn’t necessary for investors to makedecisions.

Two of the Democratic senators who’ll question Clayton at thehearing are Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Menendez ofNew Jersey, both of whom favor pay-ratio disclosure.

The rule was wrapped into the Dodd-Frank Act amid claims thatexecutive pay incentives fueled excessive risk-taking in the run-upto the 2008 financial crisis.

The rule requires large U.S. public businesses to report thecompensation ratio between their CEO and median worker for fiscalyears starting on or after Jan. 1. For most companies, thedisclosures would begin with their 2018 proxy statements, theletter said.

The pay ratio information “enables investors to make moreinformed decisions when casting advisory votes on executivecompensation,” said the letter from the coalition, including theNew York State Common Retirement Fund and a host of smaller groupslike the Maryknoll Sisters.

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