Appropriations committee advances S.109, a miscellaneous judiciary bill that creates working groups and technical fixes

Montpelier — The House Appropriations Committee voted May 14 to report S.109, the annual miscellaneous judiciary bill, to the full House after a briefing that highlighted a mix of technical statutory fixes, new working groups and a small fiscal impact tied to one group.

The bill packages about 40 separate judiciary items — from clarifying language in court diversion statutes to changing how the number of superior judges is set — and creates several study groups. "I'm here to chat with the committee a little bit on S.109, which is the annual miscellaneous judiciary bill," said Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Council during the committee meeting.

Why it matters: S.109 combines numerous low-profile statutory updates and policy studies that affect court procedures, victim notification, guardianship procedures and how temporary firearm surrenders are handled. The committee discussion focused on the bill's working groups and the limited fiscal effects tied to one that includes compensation for nonstate members.

Most important items and details

- Firearms-surrender order compliance working group: The bill establishes a working group to develop a uniform procedure for handling firearms that must be temporarily surrendered under existing law (for example,…