Trump will have to release his tax returns to get on California GOP ballot under new law

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Tuesday morning that will require presidential candidates to provide five years of tax returns in order to appear on California primary ballots in March.

The new law could force President Donald Trump, who has not released his tax returns, off the ballot in the Golden State, where one out of nine of the country's voters resides.

"I agree with the Legislature that 'the State of California has a strong interest in ensuring that its voters make informed, educated choices in the voting booth,'" Newsom said in a press release, citing the bill. "California has a special responsibility to require this information of presidential and gubernatorial candidates."

The bill's enactment is the latest of the frequent high-profile battles that have pit President Trump against California. In the past, state officials and the president have exchanged threats and barbs over environmental regulation, immigration, and wildfire policy.

California lawmakers had proposed similar bills in previous years, but they were ultimately vetoed by former Gov. Jerry Brown, who didn't release his tax returns while running for office, before being enacted.

California Republican Party Chair Jessica Milan Patterson accused Newsom of prioritizing partisan politics over governing and said she expected courts to strike down the law.

"Democrat leadership in this state continues to put partisan politics first — a fact made obvious by Gov. Newsom's insistence here to waste time and taxpayer money to fight a losing legal battle instead of joining Republicans in seeking ways to reduce the cost of living, help our schools and make our streets safer," she said in a statement released after the bill's signing.

The bill will require all presidential candidates to provide the Secretary of State with five years of income tax filings in order to secure a spot on the March 2020 primary ballot. It doesn't mention Trump by name, but both supporters and detractors have identified Trump, who, in 2016 became the first presidential candidate to refuse to release tax returns in 40 years, as its inspiration.

Several Democrats running in the party's presidential primary also have not released five years of tax returns, including former Vice President Joe Biden, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and venture capitalist Andrew Yang.

Senator Jeff Stone, R-La Quinta, said the bill was about less about affecting the lives of Californians and more about Democratic lawmakers branding themselves as anti-Trump.

“It’s not like I think Trump is going to be carrying California, but you can’t pre-empt federal law when it comes to the qualifications for running for office,” he said.

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Republican lawmakers in both the State Senate and Assembly voted unanimously against the bill before it reached Newsom’s desk.

Stone said his colleagues were opposed to Democratic grandstanding and partisan action, rather than candidates releasing their tax returns.

Voters, he added, could decide whether they felt it was important for a candidate to release financial information themselves.

“Should he turn over his financials? He probably should but there’s nothing in the law that says he has to,” Stone said.

Lawmakers have insisted the bill doesn’t explicitly target Trump, but Sen. Mike McGuire, one of the bill’s authors, spoke directly about the president after Newsom signed the bill.

“If he has nothing to hide, President Trump shouldn’t be afraid to give American voters what they want, a copy of his tax returns,” McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said in a statement released after the bill’s signing.

Sen. Scott Wiener, one of McGuire’s co-authors, didn’t address the president, but said voters deserve to know about each presidential candidate’s finances and potential conflicts of interests and alluded to corruption allegations that have circled Trump since he entered office 2.5 years ago.

“This was never about any single candidate, but about maintain and strengthening the norms of our democracy. Come 2020, any presidential candidate who hopes to appear on the California ballot will have to show that they will not be using the office of the president, our highest office, for self-gain,” Wiener, D-San Franscisco, said.

Last week, Wiener said he expects the law to be challenged in court before the 2020 election. Following Newsom's signing, legal experts both in favor of and opposed to the bill said they anticipate courtroom battles over the law's constitutionality.

In a statement attached to Newsom's press release, Attorney David Boies said he expected courts to uphold the law.

"California, which permits electors to be chosen by popular vote, has an important interest in ensuring that its voters are informed," he said. "People are regularly required to produce their tax returns pursuant to state law for far less consequential matters than a Presidential election, such as civil litigation or obtaining a loan from a bank."

Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney who represents California on the Republican National Committee and serves as the Vice President of the Republican National Lawyers Association, said the new law isn't constitutional and bypassed government checks and balances.

She called it a Democratic Party "cheap gimmick" and said its purpose was to suppress Republican voter turnout and affect not only the presidential primary, but down-ticket races and ballot measures as well.

Dhillon said she also feared the law could embolden lawmakers elsewhere to pass similar conditions outside of federal election rules.

"Beyond this cynical Trump persecution du jour, this bad law is a Pandora's box which may lead other jurisdictions to impose similarly frivolous and other unconstitutional requirements on Presidential candidates, with no policy or legal justification," she said.

After a 2018 Quinnipiac University poll found that roughly two-thirds of voters across the nation want to see Trump’s taxes made public, state legislatures throughout the country have considered adding new tax return disclosure requirements to their election codes. California is the first to enact disclosure requirements that could keep Trump off the ballot, but seven other states are considering bills that would place additional tax return disclosure requirements on candidates and four others are scheduled to consider bills when their legislature reconvenes.

Follow Sam Metz on Twitter: @metzsam. Contributing: Gabrielle Canon, Palm Springs Desert Sun.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Trump tax returns: California governor signs bill forcing release