A bill that aims to ban the operation of paramilitary training camps such as Slate Ridge in West Pawlet, Vt., is one step closer to becoming law.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-0 Tuesday to advance the bill, S.3, to the full Senate for consideration. The bill still would need to pass the House before heading to the governor.

Whether Gov. Phil Scott would ultimately sign off on the legislation, however, remains an open question. Asked about the bill at a Tuesday news conference, Scott said he had not yet reviewed the bill but said he isn’t inherently opposed to it.

“We’ve had our challenges, obviously, the state, with that one particular facility,” he said, referring to Slate Ridge. “And finally, through some of the environmental provisions, zoning regs and so forth, it looks like we’ve got that hopefully closed.”

“I’m not closed-minded to it,” Scott continued, referring to S.3. “I just don’t know the particulars and what far-reaching effects it would have. I don’t know if there are any other facilities in Vermont, to be honest with you, and whether it would encompass any other training-type facilities or not, if it’s specific to a certain segment — I just don’t know.”

The current version of the bill would make it illegal to operate a paramilitary training facility if the person doing so “knows or reasonably should know that the teaching, training, or demonstrating will be unlawfully employed for use in or in furtherance of a civil disorder.”

The legislation also would make it a crime to “assemble with one or more other persons” for paramilitary training if the “person knows or reasonably should know that the teaching, training, or instruction will be unlawfully employed for use in or in furtherance of a civil disorder.”

A violation of the law would be a felony, carrying up to five-year prison term and up to $5,000 in fines.

The bill has been largely noncontroversial among committee members and witnesses who have testified about it. That was a point noted during Tuesday’s hearing by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden-Central, who serves on the committee and introduced the bill.

“I just wanted to thank the committee and thank the witnesses, this is an unusual bill in my experience,” Baruth said. “There has not been a lot of animosity, there has not been a lot of sniping back and forth.”

Testimony and debate among committee members Tuesday focused on similar points raised during an earlier hearing last week on whether the legislation would make it too difficult — or not difficult enough — to prove a violation.

Rather than make any changes to the current version of the legislation, which Baruth said is modeled after similar measures in 25 other states, the committee opted against any further amendments.

“The Slate Ridge case has been going on (for) four years and to me that speaks to the difficulty in addressing this problem,” he said. “If we put out something that the standards are just too high that prosecutors just can’t use it in real life, I don’t think we’re doing anybody any good.”

Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, said that paramilitary camps, such as those the bill seeks to address, often operate across state lines so having legislation that mirrors measures in other states makes sense.

“To have that consistency with other states I think could be valuable,” he said.

Slate Ridge, owned and operated by Daniel Banyai, has garnered local and national media attention since 2020. Banyai has referred to the property in the past as a “professional gunfighting center” and had local far-right militia there for training.

Scott, speaking about Slate Ridge about two years ago, said there was little enforcement action the state could take, since no state laws had been violated.

Since then, the town government has taken action against Banyai in the state’s Environmental Court, contending he lacked the permit to operate the facility at the site. An Environmental Court judge recently ordered Banyai to deconstruct unpermitted buildings on his property or face jail time.