Senate panel considers bill to clarify land-posting rules; wardens warn 'reasonableness' test could weaken enforcement

Representative Blair Sackowitz told the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee that the bill before the panel stems from a Fish and Wildlife Department reinterpretation and aims to clarify when private land postings are effective.

"One of the things this bill does do is it makes it very clear that the posting is valid from the date that the report was made with the [town clerk] for a period of 365 days," Sackowitz said, summarizing the measure's principal change.

Why it matters: the bill would remove the longstanding requirement that a physical notice sign bear a date and instead make the clerk filing the operative trigger for a property's enclosure status; it also adds language to allow for "accidental or unintentional deviations" from sign placement or condition so long as the landowner did not have "actual notice" that signs were out of compliance. Supporters say the change reduces needless burdens on rural owners who must maintain many fragile Tyvek signs. Opponents say it could undercut enforcement.

Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Casey Shrach Elder said his agency supports the clarity of a 365‑day recording rule but urged caution about removing dated signs and adopting a reasonableness standard. "Legible dated signs are are good fences, which, as we know, make good neighbors," he said, adding that removing the date requirement could reduce the practical accountability that encourages landowners to check postings.

Wardens and the department's director of the warden service raised enforcement concerns. As the commissioner and colonel described it, a strict‑liability standard (where technical noncompliance can produce prosecutable trespass) gives wardens a straightforward enforcement path. Converting to a "reasonable person" test, they argued, would shift discretion to officers and prosecutors and increase the number of cases that end with a notice against trespass rather than a criminal charge. "Any reasonableness standard will muddy the water," one warden said.

Landowners and stakeholders offered mixed testimony. Shoreham resident Jeffrey Mac described an incident where a single defective sign led prosecutors to decline charges despite security-camera evidence of trespass, and he said alternatives such as purple paint markings or clearer town‑recording systems would make compliance and enforcement more durable. Farmer Morgan Gold told the committee that maintaining dozens of Tyvek signs across miles of boundary is physically difficult and that more durable markers would reduce conflicts.

Municipal officials praised the 365‑day-from‑recording language. Carol Doss, Barre City treasurer and chair of the Vermont Municipal Clerk and Treasurers Association legislative committee, said the change removed ambiguity about whether the recording had to happen on or before January 1 and "takes away any of that concern about people having to register on January 1, which ... is a holiday."

On penalties and practice: witnesses confirmed there are criminal and administrative penalties for tampering with signs under separate statutes; stakeholders and wardens repeatedly said successful prosecutions typically depend on meeting multiple elements (filing with the clerk, sign spacing, and sign condition) and that courts and prosecutors sometimes decline cases when any required element is missing.

Committee action and next steps: committee members clarified that the bill's principal technical changes are (1) removing the requirement that a physical sign be dated, (2) stating that a clerk's recording makes a posting effective for 365 days, and (3) allowing limited de minimis deviations. The committee recorded that the bill had been reported out of the originating committee with a favorable tally communicated during the hearing (committee reported vote: 10–0–1). Members agreed to continue discussion to refine enforcement language and to consider alternatives such as purple paint or clearer registration practices.

The committee recessed for further deliberations and signaled it would return with potential amendments and additional information from legal counsel and the department.