The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
005
:
SHERIFFS
(Cite as: 24 V.S.A. § 313)
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§ 313. Conflict of interest; appearance of conflict of interest
(a) Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs are considered public servants for the purposes of 3 V.S.A. § 1202(1). A conflict of interest may also exist when a member of a sheriff’s or deputy sheriff’s
immediate family or household, or the sheriff’s or deputy sheriff’s business associate,
or an organization with which the sheriff or deputy sheriff is affiliated, interferes
with the proper discharge of a lawful duty. A conflict of interest does not include
any interest that is not greater than that of other individuals generally affected
by the outcome of the matter.
(b) A sheriff or deputy sheriff shall avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance
of a conflict of interest. When confronted with a conflict of interest or an appearance
of a conflict of interest, a sheriff or deputy sheriff shall disclose the conflict
of interest to the Sheriff’s Executive Committee, recuse themselves from the matter,
and not take further action on the matter.
(c) The Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs shall establish procedures for forwarding
ethics complaints from any source to the State Ethics Commission based on the procedures
set forth in 3 V.S.A. § 1223.
(d) Nothing in this section shall require a sheriff or deputy sheriff to disclose confidential
information or information that is otherwise privileged under law. “Confidential information,”
as used in this subsection, means information that is exempt from public inspection
and copying under 1 V.S.A. § 315 et seq. or is otherwise designated by law as confidential. (Added 2023, No. 30, § 4, eff. May 31, 2023.)