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Senate Judiciary Reviews S.222, a Proposal to Bar Businesses from Election Spending in Vermont
Summary
Legislative Council told the Senate Judiciary Committee that S.222 would strip statutory authority for business entities to spend on election or ballot-question activity, but counsel and legislative attorneys warned of substantial First Amendment, Contracts Clause and due-process issues and recommended further hearings.
Rick Seibel of the Office of Legislative Council told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 24 that S.222 "would basically remove the power of not just corporations but business organizations in the state from spending money in election activities." Seibel asked the panel to treat the session as an initial walkthrough because the bill spans 36 pages of repetitive statutory edits across Vermont’s business codes.
The bill would amend multiple titles that govern corporations, cooperatives, limited liability companies, partnerships and nonprofits. Under the draft language cited by Seibel, businesses would have only those "artificial person powers" necessary for lawful business and expressly would have "no power to engage in election activity or ballot issue activity," with any such activity declared "ultra vires and void." Seibel explained that "value of activity" is defined to include paying, contributing, spending money or providing anything of value to support or oppose candidates or…
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