H 849: An act relating to a civil action for damages for deprivation of federal constitutional rights by any government official - Vermont

As EnactedOpens in a new window → As Passed by Both House and Senate (OfficialOpens in a new window) · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was reformatted from an enacted long-form layout to a short-form 'As Passed' presentation, adding a header block with sponsor, committee, and purpose information. The short-form header uses a broader title referencing 'interference with State or federal constitutional rights' rather than the narrower 'deprivation of federal constitutional rights,' though the operative legal text in Section 5797 remains unchanged and still references only the U.S. Constitution. The governor's signature date was removed as expected for the pre-enactment version.

Scope change

The short-form header broadens the stated purpose to cover 'State or federal constitutional rights' and uses 'interference with' instead of 'deprivation,' but the actual operative text of Section 5797(a) is unchanged and still limits liability to deprivations of rights secured by the U.S. Constitution.

SCOPE

The short-form header title was broadened from 'deprivation of federal constitutional rights' to 'interference with State or federal constitutional rights,' though the operative statutory text in Section 5797(a) still limits coverage to rights secured by the Constitution of the United States.

TECHNICAL

A short-form bill header was added including sponsor (Rep. LaLonde of South Burlington), committee referral, subject line, and a statement of purpose describing the bill as authorizing civil actions against federal, State, or local government officials for interference with or violations of State or federal constitutional rights.

The governor's signature date (April 27, 2026) and the legislative tracking number were removed, consistent with presenting the bill at the 'As Passed' stage rather than the final enacted version.

As Passed by Both House and Senate (OfficialOpens in a new window) → As Passed by Both House and Senate (UnofficialOpens in a new window) · 3 edits

MINOR

This diff reflects the transition from the official short-form version of H.849 to the unofficial full-text version. The substantive content is essentially unchanged; the main difference is that the full text replaces the abbreviated statement of purpose with the complete statutory language. Notably, the short form's purpose statement referenced 'State or federal constitutional rights,' but the operative text in both versions only covers deprivation of federal (U.S. Constitution) rights, not state constitutional rights.

Scope change

No change in scope. The bill creates a state-law civil action for damages against government officials who deprive persons of federal constitutional rights under color of law, effective July 1, 2026. It does not extend to state constitutional rights despite the short-form purpose statement suggesting otherwise.

SCOPE

The short-form statement of purpose mentioned 'interference with or violations of State or federal constitutional rights,' but the full-text version confirms the bill only authorizes civil actions for deprivation of rights secured by the U.S. Constitution (federal), not state constitutional rights.

TECHNICAL

Full statutory text is now included in place of the short-form placeholder '(TEXT OMITTED IN SHORT-FORM BILLS).' The operative language creates 12 V.S.A. chapter 205, section 5797, modeled on 42 U.S.C. 1983.

A legislative tracking number (VT LEG #388809 v.1) was added to the document header.

As Passed By the House (OfficialOpens in a new window) → As EnactedOpens in a new window · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was enacted with a corrected title that narrows its stated scope from 'interference with or violations of State or federal constitutional rights' to 'deprivation of federal constitutional rights.' This aligns the title with the operative text, which in both versions only authorizes suits for deprivations of rights secured by the U.S. Constitution and federal laws (mirroring 42 U.S.C. section 1983). The remaining changes are formatting updates to convert from short-form bill layout to standard enacted act format, plus the addition of the Governor's non-signature date of April 27, 2026.

SCOPE

The bill title was changed from 'interference with State or federal constitutional rights' to 'deprivation of federal constitutional rights,' removing State constitutional rights from the stated scope and replacing 'interference with' with 'deprivation of' to match the operative text.

TECHNICAL

Governor's non-signature date (April 27, 2026) was added, confirming the bill became law without a signature.

Formatting changed from short-form bill layout to standard enacted act format (No. 87, page numbering, removal of committee referral and statement of purpose headers).

As IntroducedOpens in a new window → As Passed By the House (UnofficialOpens in a new window) · 7 edits · Apr 21, 2026

MODERATE

The bill transitioned from a short-form placeholder (with no statutory text) to a full enacted bill creating a new Vermont civil rights damages statute modeled on federal 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. The passed version narrows the scope from covering both state and federal constitutional rights to only federal constitutional rights, and adds detailed provisions including a judicial officer exception, incorporation of federal Section 1983 defenses, and a directive that Vermont courts follow federal interpretations of Section 1983.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed from covering violations of both state and federal constitutional rights to only covering deprivations of rights secured by the U.S. Constitution. It also clarified that 'color of law' encompasses federal, state, territorial, and D.C. legal authority.

SCOPE

Full statutory text was added creating new 12 V.S.A. Chapter 205 (Section 5797) authorizing civil actions for damages against government officials who, under color of law, deprive a person of rights secured by the U.S. Constitution.

The introduced version referenced 'State or federal constitutional rights' but the passed version limits coverage to rights 'secured by the Constitution of the United States,' excluding state constitutional claims.

REQUIREMENT

A judicial officer exception was added: injunctive relief against a judicial officer acting in their judicial capacity is unavailable unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable.

DEFINITION

'Color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage' is defined to include federal law and the laws of any U.S. state, territory, or the District of Columbia.

ENFORCEMENT

All defenses available under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 are made available to defendants in actions under this section, but the bill explicitly states this does not create qualified or absolute immunity in any other Vermont proceeding.

TECHNICAL

A construction directive requires Vermont courts to be guided by federal court interpretations of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 when construing this section.

TIMELINE

Effective date set as July 1, 2026.

As Passed By the House (UnofficialOpens in a new window) → As Passed By the House (OfficialOpens in a new window) · 3 edits · Apr 21, 2026

MINOR

This diff reflects the transition from an unofficial to an official version of H.849 as passed by the House. The substantive legislative text (Section 1 creating a civil action for deprivation of federal constitutional rights, and Section 2 setting a July 1, 2026 effective date) is unchanged. The official version adds standard short-form bill metadata including sponsor information, subject line, and a statement of purpose.

TECHNICAL

Added short-form bill header with sponsor (Rep. LaLonde of South Burlington), committee referral field, subject line, and statement of purpose.

Header changed from 'AS PASSED BY HOUSE' to 'BILL AS PASSED BY THE HOUSE' and formatting/line breaks were adjusted throughout to match official publication standards.

SCOPE

Added an alternate short-form title: 'An act relating to a civil action for damages for interference with State or federal constitutional rights by any government official.' This is broader than the original short form ('deprivation of federal constitutional rights'), though the operative text in Section 1(a) still only references the U.S. Constitution.

An act relating to a civil action for damages for deprivation of federal constitutional rights by any government official

What changed between versions

How they voted

Actions timeline

Sponsors