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Committee debates narrowing of S.179 amendment after witnesses warn leased and municipal spaces may be swept in
Summary
A legislative committee reviewed an amendment to S.179 (Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interest Act) that adds the word "child" in one subsection and expands protections against civil arrests to certain buildings. Members and witnesses urged narrowing the draft language to avoid unintentionally covering leased or multiuse private property; legislative counsel warned the broader language could face legal challenges.
Chair convened the session to take up an amendment to S.179, the Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interest Act, and asked the member reporting the amendment to summarize proposed changes. The reporter said the technical change amends section 4015(c) by inserting the word "child" after "minor" to clarify how disclaimers apply when a minor child inherits property.
Why it matters: committee members then focused on a separate, larger set of changes that would limit a prior travel prohibition to court proceedings and educational institutions and add new protected-location language that could bar civil arrests "on the premises of a building controlled in whole or in part by the state or a political subdivision of the state" and would explicitly include public libraries as defined in statute. Members warned the phrase "political subdivision" and the "controlled in whole or part" formulation risk sweeping in leased, privately owned or multiuse spaces where government offices occupy just a portion of a building.
What witnesses said: Samantha Sheehan, municipal policy and advocacy specialist for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, told the committee that VLCT has no settled position on the bill's core intent but urged care in drafting because municipal property ownership and use are varied. "If it's a municipally owned building and it's a place where municipal services are provided and it is controlled in whole, right, then you're narrowing that scope," Sheehan said, recommending definitions or examples (city, town, village, school districts) or specifying a building or office where services are provided and controlled.
Philip Schilling, advocacy director for the ACLU of Vermont, said the ACLU supports the bill's intent and the amendment but echoed concerns about overly broad text: narrowing the scope to buildings controlled in whole by government or to specific offices would "get us closer" to a defensible statute, he said, and would make it easier to apply in practice.
Legal perspective: Rick Sable, who the committee identified as its legislative counsel, told members the phrase "political subdivision" appears widely in Vermont law and is not novel, but the state’s strongest legal footing would be when it acts as proprietor of property it controls. He warned that extending civil-arrest protections beyond courthouses and plainly state-controlled premises is legally untested and could prompt facial or as-applied constitutional challenges. "This would be the first in the country to have this sort of civil arrest exemption" beyond courthouses, he said, and defended the principle that the state can regulate its own property while recognizing courts will resolve line-drawing questions.
Points of contention: members raised multiple hypotheticals — whether a leased floor in the National Life complex, a federal post office on leased private land, an apartment building with a government office floor, polling locations in rented halls, or municipal salt sheds would qualify under the draft. Counsel and witnesses suggested alternatives: list specific facility types, limit coverage to buildings "controlled in whole" by the state or a political subdivision, or require that protected status apply only during posted business hours when government services are being delivered.
Procedure and next steps: the chair conducted an informal straw poll on whether the committee should find the amendment favorable; the transcript records members raising hands but contains inconsistent numerical readouts, so the committee treated the poll as advisory. Members asked legislative counsel and staff to return with revised language and a list of examples and said the committee will continue work and hear additional witnesses on the definitions and scope before advancing any formal motion.
The committee ended the day's session with follow-up requested of counsel and staff; further consideration is scheduled.
