Committee concurs with Senate amendment to H‑41, moves burial‑transport penalty to civil fine and adds criminal desecration provisions

The House Judiciary Committee voted May 14 to concur with the Senate amendment to H‑41, a bill that creates new criminal offenses for intentional abuse or desecration of a dead body and that changes an existing burial‑transport violation in the public‑health code from a potential five‑year felony to a civil penalty with a $1,000 fine.

Committee members said the change was intended to avoid imposing a felony on funeral directors or private citizens for administrative or permit timing errors while preserving strong criminal penalties for intentionally abusive conduct. The committee framed the bill as filling a gap the state lacked: members said Vermont was one of the few states without a criminal statute…