House Democrats passed a bill Friday that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to release the latest five years of their tax returns in order to appear on voter ballots in Colorado.

House Bill 1328, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Edie Hooton from Boulder and Chris Hansen from Denver, joined a list of similar bills introduced in 26 states, many of them bipartisan. Not so in Colorado.

The bill passed on a party-line 36-28 vote in the House, a strong signal that the bill will struggle to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate.

House Republicans, who have wearied of efforts made by their Democratic colleagues to introduce what they see as anti-Trump administration politics into state legislative business, viewed the bill as overreaching. They said the Constitution lists criteria candidates for federal offices are required to meet. They pointed to court cases that suggest House Bill 1328, should it pass, would draw lawsuits.

“We believe that this is a nonpartisan issue,” Rep. Hansen said. “This is financial transparency for the voters of Colorado.”

Presidents have long voluntarily released their taxes to head off concerns that any public policy they promote might be shaped by the possibility of personal gain. Trump has broken with that tradition. He has repeatedly dodged calls to release his tax returns. He has said he is being audited, but he has never provided evidence that he was, nor fully explained why it would matter. He has scheduled press conferences to discuss the issue and take questions, only to cancel them.

The vote in Colorado today comes as the president and Republicans on Capitol Hill are considering introducing major national tax reform legislation. Democrats are demanding to know how any change in the tax code would effect Trump’s personal income and holdings. On Thursday, USA Today published an investigation into Trump’s real estate holdings that detailed how they could act as a channel through which any person, company or government could steer millions to him without leaving an identifying public record of the transaction.

“Personal finances reveal a lot about candidates,” Hooton said in a statement. “How much tax people pay on their assets, who [they] conduct business with, [their] charitable contributions — these all reveal a lot about a person’s values. The public deserves financial transparency from those seeking the highest office in the nation.”

— john@coloradostatesman.com