Judiciary committee reviews S.109; members weigh firearm‑surrender working group, title‑record fixes

The House Judiciary Committee on April 2 heard testimony on S.109, a miscellaneous judiciary bill that includes a proposal to create a firearm‑surrender working group and several court‑process and record‑clearing provisions, including a new curative rule for older property instruments recorded without a power of attorney.

The working‑group proposal (section 25) drew the most discussion. Carol Hansen of the Attorney General’s Office stressed the group would not create new firearm restrictions but would study how existing state and federal surrender laws are carried out and identify barriers to enforcement. "The first and most important point that I wanted to make to you all today is this is not any sort of new restriction on firearms," Hansen said. Charlie Glesserman, policy director at the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said advocates support a study to improve implementation of legal firearm‑surrender orders and asked the committee to consider keeping money that supports domestic‑violence services in the bill.

Proponents said the working group would assemble decision makers and technical partners — including law enforcement, courts, probation, and victim‑services representatives — to develop practical options. Hansen said the group would try to identify measures that use existing law and that may require follow‑up…