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State law would now require candidates to release five years of tax returns to appear. President Trump has yet to do so.Â
California may keep Donald Trump off the state's primary ballot unless he releases his tax returns.
The state's Senate passed a requirement for any candidate appearing on the presidential primary ballot to release five years of tax returns on Thursday, according to theAssociated Press.
"We believe that President Trump, if he truly doesn't have anything to hide, should step up and release his tax returns," said state Sen. Mike McGuire, a bill sponsor, to the Associated Press.
California's 10 Republican members all voted against the measure.
President Trump has resisted calls for years to release his tax returns. But the tradition of releasing returns is a norm, not a requirement, for candidates and presidents.
A similar bill passed in the California Legislature during 2017, but then-Gov Jerry Brown, a Democrat who had also refused to release his returns, vetoed the bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom has not outright dismissed the idea of signing the legislation and said he will judge it on merits.
Not all Democratic pundits celebrated California's move. Out political analysis Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight, slammed the move.
"This is a terrible, undemocratic idea and I don't really GAF if I get ratio'ed for saying that," he wrote on Twitter.
Forcing candidates to release financial information is an idea that is seeing significant growth within a number of who are considering states like Illinois who are considering legislation for the 2020 election cycle.
