COLUMBUS, Ohio — A long-shot Democratic bill requiring presidential candidates to provide five years of tax returns took a strange turn this week, after Republican state lawmakers amended it to require that presidential candidates share their birth certificates as well.

Republican members of the House Federalism Committee voted 6-1, with the committee’s lone present Democrat voting no, to amend House Bill 475, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Tavia Galonski, of Akron, and Kent Smith, of Euclid. The bill was developed with President Donald Trump — who famously has broken political tradition by refusing to release his tax returns while running for office — in mind, and it also would apply to vice-presidential candidates.

The amended bill remains before the committee, and is unlikely to ever be passed. Staff with the Legislative Service Commission, the nonpartisan research arm of the state legislature, have noted it could be challenged on constitutional grounds were it to become law.

But the vote is an example of some of the more off-the-beaten-path debates state lawmakers in Columbus undertake at times.

Procedurally, the amendment was unusual. It occurred during an initial committee hearing, a usually perfunctory occasion when bill sponsors testify about their bill and field questions.

But state Rep. Tom Brinkman, a Cincinnati Republican who is among the House’s most conservative members, introduced the amendment following Galonski and Smith’s testimony. Committee Chairman John Becker, a Cincinnati-area Republican who’s also among the House’s most conservative members, allowed the amendment to be introduced.

Explaining his amendment, Brinkman alluded to former President Barack Obama, a Democrat who was the subject of a persistent, false conspiracy theory that he wasn’t born in the United States.

But he only specifically identified two presidential candidates — both Republicans. He said he found it “troubling” to learn that 2008 nominee John McCain was born in Panama, and said — incorrectly — that 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney was born in Mexico. Romney actually was born in Detroit, according to a copy of his birth certificate which his campaign released publicly.

“I thought that type of information should be known to the public,” Brinkman said. “We also have had other controversy over other presidential candidates as to whether they were born in the United States.”

Smith responded by first noting that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada, and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria.

“If this amendment is necessary to pass [the bill] out of federalism committee, the sponsors will allow such to proceed,” Smith said.

Rep. Brigid Kelly, a Democrat from Cincinnati, was the lone “no” vote. Before casting her vote, she noted that Romney actually was born in Detroit. She also griped that Becker by allowing an amendment during an initial hearing had deviated from normal legislative procedure.

Following the vote on the presidential candidate bill, the committee took up debate on a different bill that would change when and how someone with a concealed handgun must notify law enforcement if they are pulled over while driving.

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