Bill Introduced in State Senate Requiring Presidential Candidates to Release Tax Returns

• — from David Turnoy, Chair, San Juan County Democrats —

A bill has been introduced in the state senate to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns if they want their names to appear on ballots in our state. While it would be better to do this on a national level, and such a measure is part of a bill in the US House of Representatives that would fix many of the current problems in our politics, the chance for passage of this national bill is not likely in Congress anytime soon. Therefore, it is up to states to take this on.

California is on the verge of passing such legislation, and they are asking other states to do the same. WA state Senator Patty Kuderer has introduced SB 5078 mandating release of the past five years of tax returns, and Rep. Derek Stanford will be introducing the bill in the House this Friday. Representatives will have until next Monday at 2:00 to be included as sponsors.

I have contacted our two representatives, Debra Lekanoff and Jeff Morris, asking them to sponsor this legislation. I would encourage you to do the same. Here are their email addresses:

• Debra.Lekanoff@leg.wa.gov
• Jeff.Morris@leg.wa.gov

Whether or not they sign on as sponsors, we will want to encourage them to vote for this bill. So please make your voice heard. We voters deserve to know whether our presidential candidates are on the up and up.