ELEC §8900: The Legislature finds and declares that the State of California has a strong interest in ensuring that its voters make informed, educated choices in the voting booth.

The Legislature finds and declares that the State of California has a strong interest in ensuring that its voters make informed, educated choices in the voting booth. To this end, the state has mandated that extensive amounts of information be provided to voters, including county and state voter information guides. The Legislature also finds and declares that the income tax returns of candidates for Governor provide voters with essential information regarding the candidate’s potential conflicts of interest, business dealings, financial status, and charitable donations. The information in tax returns therefore helps voters to make a more informed decision. The Legislature further finds and declares that as one of the largest centers of economic activity in the world, the State of California has a special interest in state elected officials refraining from corrupt or self-enriching behaviors while in office. The people of California can better estimate the risks of any given candidate for Governor engaging in corruption or the appearance of corruption if they have access to candidates’ tax returns. Finally, the State of California has an interest in ensuring that any violations of statutory prohibitions on behavior such as insider trading are detected and punished. Mandated disclosure of the tax returns of candidates for Governor will enable enforcement of the laws against whichever candidates are elected to those offices. The Legislature finds and declares that compliance costs with this requirement will be trivial.