MONTPELIER — Public access to the Vermont Statehouse is going to start looking very different.
Officials plan to limit visitors to a single point of entry every day that legislators are in session starting as soon as next month, Agatha Kessler, the Statehouse’s Sergeant-at-Arms, said Friday.
As it stands — and has long been the case — anyone can enter the Statehouse through several different, unguarded doors. But since the start of this year’s legislative session, officials have been restricting access to a door in the rear of the building one day per week, in its loading dock, while allowing broader access on other days.
That restricted access has also come with security screening. In a small vestibule just inside the loading area door, officials set up an X-ray machine to scan bags and officers wave a metal detecting wand up and down each person’s body.
Even bags of takeout food can be subject to a quick look inside.
Kessler said the beefed up screening could start as soon as the second week in March, when legislators return from their Town Meeting Day break, but emphasized that wasn’t set in stone.
“It is very likely to happen this session,” she said. “That would be my goal.”
The decision marks a significant change in operations for the hundreds of lobbyists, reporters and members of the public who come to the building each day. Legislators and their staff, however, won’t have to use the secured entrance, Kessler noted.
Many, but not all, states use enhanced security measures at their capitol buildings, according to a 2021 analysis from The Council of State Governments. Thirty-seven capitols employed metal detectors at screening checkpoints in building entrances, and 31 capitols employed X-ray machines at entrances, according to the survey.
In Vermont, the pivot to increased security stems in part from safety concerns in the wake of recent violence against lawmakers elsewhere in the country.
Kessler said bolstering security eases worries for legislators who, in some cases, became especially concerned after a gunman killed Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband in their home last year. Having more security screenings will allow lawmakers to “focus more on their legislative work and focus less on, ‘Is there a threat in the building?’”
“The fear was there, but that incident allowed people to talk about it out loud,” she said. “And it’s not just their safety here in the building, it’s their safety at home as well, which is increasingly becoming an issue.”
She said the lack of daily security screening makes Vermont’s state capitol “completely outdated in terms of what is standard” at many other capitols around the country.
“We have a lot of catching up to do here,” she said.
Chiefs of staff to both House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth confirmed this week that that plan could start imminently.
Kessler said there are still a few final pieces that need to be in place before making the shift. Mainly, she needs to hire and train additional staff to support the effort.
The plan is for the single point of entry to no longer be staffed by the Capitol Police Department or contracted county sheriff’s deputies, as has been the case thus far. Instead, Kessler plans to hire contract security guards who would be unarmed and wear a more casual uniform, she said. They would likely wear hats that say “security.”
“The first person that you meet at any public building should not be a police officer, right?” she said. “We want to make them approachable and friendly — and not intimidating.”
Her office will also likely need additional funding, in the short-term, to operate the daily security checkpoint. Conor Kennedy, Krowinski’s chief of staff, said the pot of money available to fund Statehouse operations this year likely has enough money as it stands to support the additional work. But he said there could be a need to increase the budget request for those purposes starting next year.
Kessler acknowledged that the loading dock entrance location is far from ideal. For one, it’s located around the back of the building. Also, the vestibule is very small, meaning people often have to stand in line outside while waiting to be screened. So far this year, when there’s only been one entrance open to the public, officials have put up signs directing visitors there.
But Kessler said that entrance has to be used because it’s the only option that is fully accessible to people with wheelchairs or who have other mobility challenges.
She said she’s working on a plan to install an awning over the sidewalk that leads up to the door to offer some additional shelter from the elements for those in the queue.
Plans are for the single, secure point of entry to only be in use during the legislative session, which typically runs from January through May. Kessler said she wouldn’t expect to keep the setup going over the summer or the fall.
Two longtime legislators — Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, and Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin — said Friday that they supported the change. It’s likely to cause some consternation with regular visitors, Emmons and Brock said, but they think the trade-off is worth it to help others feel more secure.
“I think it’s the right decision,” said Emmons, who has served in the House since 1983, adding that “some folks are willing to take that inconvenience to know that there’s safety.”
The committee Emmons chairs, House Corrections and Institutions, is set to take testimony next month on ongoing plans to build a new entryway at the rear of the Statehouse, where the loading dock is now. That new entry, which is still in the planning phase, would substantially improve the process of screening visitors, Kessler said Friday.
