On July 11, the California legislature passed SB 505, the bill that sets forth the rules on how a candidate gets on a presidential primary ballot. This bill has nothing to do with presidential tax returns; that is another bill, SB 27.

Current law says the Secretary of State shall put recognized candidates on presidential primary ballots, but does not set forth any details about how the Secretary of State decides who is “recognized.” This bill sets forth very lenient rules, although assuming the bill is signed into law, it will require presidential candidates to apply. The existing law does not even require them to apply.

The bill says anyone can get on a presidential primary ballot if he or she is already on the presidential primary ballot of at least one other state. This part of the bill will greatly expand the number of candidates who can be expected to be on a California presidential primary ballot. Every presidential election year, the New Hampshire Democratic and Republican presidential primary ballots have many candidates. All New Hampshire requires is $1,000; there is no petition. In 2016, there were 30 candidates on the New Hampshire Republican ballot, and 28 on the Democratic ballot. All the people who file in New Hampshire can now apply to be on a California presidential primary ballot, and there is no filing fee in California.

Also under the California bill, someone who is seeking the nomination of the Peace & Freedom, American Independent, Green, or Libertarian Party can be on a presidential primary ballot of one of those parties, if the party approves, and the candidate has a campaign webpage. Assuming Governor Gavin Newsom signs SB 505, California will probably have the largest number of presidential primary candidates in its history in 2020.

On July 10, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed HB 588. The bill ends the requirement that presidential primary candidates must be registered members of the party whose nomination they are seeking. The bill had never been enforced, because 19 states don’t have registration by party. For example, George W. Bush hadn’t been a registered Republican when he ran for President because Texas doesn’t have registration by party.

Here is the text of the bill.

On July 2, the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means sued the U.S. Treasury Department to obtain a copy of President Trump’s tax returns. The case is filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and is assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee. The case is Committee on Ways & Means v U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1:19cv-1974. Here is the Complaint. So far, the only thing that has happened is that the proof of service has been filed. Experts disagree on how fast the case can move. Thanks to Law.Com for the link.