On Friday evening, after 10 full hours of debate, House lawmakers voted 85-59 to approve sweeping changes to Vermont’s gun laws. But the bill, called S.55, still has some hurdles to clear in Montpelier. Here’s what’s next for S.55.
But first — here’s what representatives in the Vermont House agreed to Friday:
- Mandatory background checks for private gun sales
- Raising the legal age to purchase a gun to 21 years old
- Banning bump stocks
- Banning sale or possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds
Next: The final House vote
Remember, in Vermont, bills have to get voted on at least twice by each chamber in order to get approved.
That House vote on Friday was the first vote; the second and final floor vote comes Tuesday. The next step comes on Tuesday, when the House holds its final vote on S.55.
It’s extraordinarily unusual for the House to give preliminary approval to a bill — which happened to S.55 on Friday — and then reverse that decision in the final vote.
But even then, with the final nod from House lawmakers, the bill still has a ways to go.
And that’s because the Senate still has to weigh in.
Then: Back to the Senate
The Senate was actually the first chamber to consider S.55, which they approved it by a vote of 17-13 back on March 2.
But, the version of the bill that Senate lawmakers voted on included only two of the four key provisions now in play:
- Mandatory background checks for private gun sales
- Raising the legal age to purchase a gun to 21 year old
Senators who voted 'yes' on background checks:
— Peter Hirschfeld (@PeteHirschfeld) March 1, 2018
Tim Ashe
Claire Ayer
Becca Balint
Phil Baruth
Chris Bray
Francis Brooks
Brian Campion
Alison Clarkson
Ann Cummings
Debbie Ingram
Ginny Lyons
Mark MacDonald
Dick McCormack
Chris Pearson
Anthony Pollina
Michael Sirotkin
Jeanette White
It did not include the other two provisions:
- Banning bump stocks
- Banning sale or possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds
Senate President Tim Ashe said he’d like the Senate to weigh in on the House changes as soon as possible.
“By the end of this week, I believe the Senate will be taking up S.55 for final action,” Ashe said Monday.
Not everyone in the Senate, however, shares Ashe’s urgency.
Bennington County Sen. Dick Sears, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that on Wednesday, his committee will take a look at the House’s revisions to S.55, namely the provisions related to bump stocks and magazine capacity restrictions.
"If you're for magazine limits or against them, you want a process that works." — Sen. Dick Sears
And Sears said at this point, he’s inclined to set up a special committee to examine those provisions in more depth.
“My gut is that normally when you have substantial changes that weren’t discussed by the other body, you would ask for a committee of conference,” Sears said.
The “committee of conference” Sears is referring to is made up of six people — three appointed from Senate, and three from the House — who get together to iron out differences between competing versions of the bill.
“If you’re for magazine limits or against them, you want a process that works,” Sears said. “And I want to hear the testimony on the House version of [the] magazine [provision] before I go out there. Usually, when you do gun control, you provide for that kind of process.”
But Sears may not get his committee of conference.
Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint said it’s her hope that the Senate will avoid the creation of a committee of conference, and simply move forward with an up-or-down vote on what the House has done.
“Once you are in a committee where a few people are making decisions for the entire group, then people don’t feel like they have as much of a direct voice in the process,” Balint said.
"[I]n a committee where a few people are making decisions ... then people don't feel like they have as much of a direct voice in the process." — Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint
And if the Senate does go ahead with a final vote, that begs the biggest question of all: Do the ban on bump stocks and new magazine capacity restrictions, which were not in the Senate’s version of S.55, have the votes needed to pass the Senate?
Balint says she’s not sure.
“Whether these particular provisions will have the votes, I’m certainly hopeful. But I cannot give you a definitive answer on that yet, “Balint said. “We have a bunch of conversations that need to happen.”
The final stop
If the Senate does concur with the House version of the bill, then S.55 will have one final stop — the governor’s desk.
Gov. Phil Scott said last week that he’s supportive of the concept of all the provisions contained in S.55.
But he stopped short of committing to sign the legislation if it arrives at his desk, saying “details matter.”
Whether Scott finds a devil in those details is something opponents and supporters of the legislation will find out if the bill makes it to his desk.
