Qualcomm Agrees to Disclose Political Contributions; Comptroller Drops Lawsuit

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced today that as a result of Qualcomm’s new political spending disclosure policy, he will drop the lawsuit he filed against the company.  The company’s new policy will provide stockholders with information regarding its corporate political spending, including company contributions to political candidates and political parties, political expenditures to trade associations and 501(c)(4) organizations and contributions to influence ballot measures.

DiNapoli, who is the sole trustee of New York State’s $150 billion pension fund, sued Qualcomm on Jan. 2 for not disclosing more about its political spending (Read my prior blog post on the topic here.)

Read Qualcomm’s policy here, and its list of political contributions here.

DiNapoli said:

“Qualcomm’s disclosure policy sets a high standard for transparency in corporate political spending disclosure and the company deserves praise for its actions.  This is a significant milestone in greater transparency in corporate political spending.”

DiNapoli has urged a number of companies in which the pension fund is invested to be more transparent about their political donations.