Days after , Colorado Democrats are pushing forward a measureٴ require future presidential candidates to do just that.
Shrugging off concerns that such an effort at the state level might prove unconstitutional, the House Finance Committee on Monday approved a bill that would require anyone running for president or vice president to publicly disclose five years’ worth of federal income tax returns in order to qualify for the Colorado ballot.
But while its supporters stressed that was intended to be non-partisan, it passed out of committee with no Republican support, severely dimming its chances of emerging from the GOP-led Senate to become law.
“This has been one of those very bi-partisan traditions … one of the unwritten rules of American politics” said Rep. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, one of the bill’s sponsors. “We think it’s time to write these rules down.”
Instead, it will likely go down as yet another example of .
At least 26 other states have introduced similar legislation this year, after Trump became not to release his returns. But it’s not clear if such an effort would be upheld in court.
Suzanne Staiert, the deputy secretary of state, told lawmakers that in the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has resisted state-level efforts to impose new qualifications on candidates for federal office — except for things such as petition-gathering or filing fees designed to deter insincere candidates.
National legal experts have of the issue as similar efforts have proliferated. So if nothing else, Staiert said, lawmakers should expect the measureٴ be challenged in court if it became law.
“The passage of this bill would most certainly result in expensive litigation for our office,” Staiert said.
A number of Republicans Monday said they favor transparency, but fear that the bill would only attract such a lawsuit. And, they added, despite Democrats’ insistence that it shouldn’t be a partisan issue, the measure appeared to blatantly target a particular Republican candidate.
Rep. Susan Beckman, R-Littleton, recalled while Barack Obama was president, in response to debunked questions about his citizenship.
“It’s a slippery slope having each state be able to implement new criteria based on what election cycle it is,” Beckman said.
Polls have found that ٴ believe Trump should release his tax returns, and similar majorities would support a federal law requiring it. This weekend, asking for Trump to release them, while in Colorado Springs, .