On June 8, the California Assembly passed SB 27 by 57-17. It prevents presidential candidates from appearing on a presidential primary ballot unless they reveal the last five years of their income tax returns. The bill now returns to the Senate, because the Assembly and Senate versions are not the same. Here is the roll-call.

The bill seems to run afoul of the California Constitution, which directs the Secretary of State to put all “recognized” presidential candidates on presidential primary ballots. The purpose of that part of the California Constitution, which was passed in 1972, was to make sure that presidential primary voters were able to vote for all significant candidates. Before the amendment passed, sometimes leading presidential candidates did not file for the California presidential primary, because their own party’s leader wanted to be a “favorite son”. For example, California Democrats only saw Governor Pat Brown on their 1960 presidential primary ballot; John F. Kennedy and his competitors did not want to offend Governor Brown by filing for the Democratic presidential primary.

Six analyses of the bill were prepared by staff for the California legislature, but none of them mentioned the California Constitution.