The state Senate has advanced a bill that promises to take future action on qualified immunity for police officers, but it fails to eliminate the legal doctrine outright as proponents had hoped.
By voice vote on Friday, the Senate approved a substantially amended S.254 on its second reading. One floor vote remains before the bill heads to the House.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who championed the bill, told his colleagues on the floor that the bill was stripped down from its original intent after his Senate Judiciary Committee heard extensive testimony against the bill from officials in law enforcement.
“What we come to you with today is a watered-down version. I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Sears said.
In its current form, S.254 would commission an independent report on qualified immunity’s application in Vermont. The bill also would codify the state Supreme Court’s Zullo v. Vermont decision, which grants citizens a private right of action against state police “based on alleged flagrant violations of Article 11” of the state Constitution.
Sears — as well as other proponents of the bill — said it met a “unified front” of opposition from law enforcement, as well as municipalities, mirroring lobbying efforts against similar legislation in other states. The bill’s opponents deny those claims, but law enforcement did provide extensive public testimony against the bill this legislative session.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, who voted against the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, told his colleagues on the floor Friday that he was sympathetic to law enforcement officers’ arguments. He said S.254 is part of a trend of legislation nationwide “that, in total, sum up to say you don’t like police officers.”
Qualified immunity is a widespread legal doctrine established in U.S. Supreme Court precedent that protects public servants from being sued for violating citizens’ civil rights while on the job. Agencies and municipalities say qualified immunity is a necessary protection that allows officers to do police work without fear of frivolous lawsuits.
In its original form, S.254 would have eliminated qualified immunity as a defense for any police officers accused of violating citizens’ civil rights.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, has been a vocal supporter of ending qualified immunity for police officers and included a similar provision in her own police reform bill package, S.250. On the floor Friday, she asked her colleagues to reflect on their first interactions with police officers.
“How old were you? Do you feel that the interaction was justified? Do you feel that you got off maybe better than you should have, and you didn’t face the same consequences that someone else might have? Did it traumatize you? Did it make you fearful for life of interacting with another police officer? Was your body touched? Did you lose your civil liberties and wonder if you would lose your life?” she asked. “If this chamber looked different, if this chamber was full of people of color, or people with disabilities, the answers to those questions would be significantly different.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, threw her legislative might behind the bill at the start of the legislative session, but it was not enough to get it through in its original form.
“We’ve experienced immense push back in this work, but that doesn’t mean that we give up,” Balint said in a statement after the vote. “The bill voted on by the Senate today is not the bill we started with, and while it is a good first step, there is more work to do.”