New York state lawmakers pushing to release President Donald Trump's tax returns have offered amendments to a bill aimed at getting his state tax information into the hands of U.S. congressional committee heads.
The amendments, submitted late Sunday night, offers a more narrow target by requiring the state tax commissioner to release tax documents for public officials including the president of the United States, any member of Congress from New York, anyone serving in or employed by the federal government's executive branch, state and local government positions, or political party leaders, reports The Buffalo News.
The original bill required the state tax commissioner to turn over tax returns for any New Yorker or corporation if Washington's congressional committees submit the requests in writing.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, said his chamber would pass the bill and amendments Wednesday.
Heastie said even if investigators in Congress decide not to request Trump's state tax returns, "this could be just like an 'in case of emergency break glass' type of legislation."
The State Senate has already passed the original bill, and Senate officials on Monday said the mendments will also pass Wednesday.
Assemblyman David Buchwald, a Westchester County Democrat, told The Buffalo News that the amendments narrow the bill to hold people in public office "to the standard of being more transparent."
Further, he said the bill would not have come up if Trump had not refused to release his tax returns and if the "federal process for access to tax return had not broken down."
New York's planned law means state officials must only turn over their state, not federal tax returns, to Congress.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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