SACRAMENTO – With President Trump showing more allegiance to Russia than America’s own intelligence agencies this week, California state senators are gearing up to reintroduce legislation that would require all presidential primary candidates to release their tax returns prior to being placed on the California ballot.

“This week’s events in Helsinki will go down as one of the most damaging and disgraceful in modern American political history,” Sen. Mike McGuire said. “We’re all searching for an explanation of the president's shamefully submissive behavior this week as he denounced our country’s intelligence agencies, the American public and our allies while cozying up to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. There is one definitive way to bring to light any potential financial and legal conflicts of interest that could drive an American president into the arms of a hostile foreign power – that’s making Trump’s tax returns public. We’re grateful to be teaming up with Senator Wiener on this important initiative.”

Last year, McGuire and Sen. Scott Wiener introduced the Presidential Tax Transparency & Accountability Act – which would have required basic tax information to be shared with the American public and require that all presidential candidates release the last 5 years of their tax returns in order to appear on the California ballot. The returns would also be made available to the public on the Secretary of State’s Web site.

The Presidential Tax Transparency bill was passed by the legislature with Republican and Democratic support in 2017 but was not signed into law. Senators McGuire and Wiener will reintroduce the bill later this year.

“It was appalling to watch the President trash our own intelligence agencies while lavishing praise on and siding with Vladimir Putin. While it’s clear Trump is willing to sell out our country and values, it’s unclear if he’s doing it to satisfy his personal financial interests, since he refused to be transparent as a candidate. The American people should not be in the dark about our President’s finances and conflicts of interest, and we must ensure they never are again. Requiring presidential candidates to disclose basic financial information is a common sense measure that builds trust between the American people and their elected leader. I’m proud to partner with Senator McGuire on this effort to strengthen our democracy and give voters the full transparency they deserve,” Sen. Wiener said.

Prior to Donald Trump’s refusal to release any tax returns, every president since Jimmy Carter (over 40 years) has released at least one year of tax returns. During the 2016 Presidential election, Hillary Clinton (Democratic) and Jill Stein (Green) both released their tax returns.

Contrary to what President Trump has stated in public that Americans don’t care about his tax returns, 74 percent of respondents in national polls on the issue believe President Trump should release his tax returns.