Senate Judiciary committee refines changes to S.109 miscellaneous judiciary bill

Senator Hashim, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, convened the committee May 27 to consider a Senate amendment to S.109, the miscellaneous judiciary bill, and to decide which changes to the House amendment the committee would send back to the floor.

The amendment presented by Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Council would restore several provisions that the House had removed, strike others the committee judged to need more study, and add clarifications on how child support history may be considered in certain proceedings. “We are trying to breathe some life back into S.109, the miscellaneous judiciary bill,” Senator Hashim said as the meeting began.

The committee voted to move forward with the Senate changes and to report the amendment to the floor after staff prepares a clean amendment document. Eric Fitzpatrick summarized the principal committee decisions and the rationale for removing or retaining specific sections.

Among the items the amendment restores is the Senate’s original membership for the “surrender order compliance” working group, returning the Center for Crime Victim Services and the Vermont Council on Domestic Violence as full members rather than only consultation parties. As Fitzpatrick explained, “All this does is change it back to the Senate version.”

The amendment removes several provisions the committee judged either already enacted elsewhere or in need of broader testimony. Sections repealing the sunset on a marriage license fee increase were struck because an identical change had been included in the state budget and signed by the governor. Language creating an appeal route from conditions of release (bail revocation denials) was also struck; committee members said changes to bail appeals would require testimony from prosecutors, defense counsel, the attorney general’s office and the courts and should not be folded into a miscellaneous bill without time for that input. “When we're talking about something as substantive as bail and appeals to the Supreme Court, that's not exactly something that should be on the miscellaneous bill,” a committee member said.

Other items removed or deferred included a proposed adult involuntary guardianship working group; a recommendation process regarding family forensic evaluators; and a proposed child-and-parent legal representation task force, each struck so parties with differing views can weigh in at length later. Committee members discussed reestablishing an oversight committee to coordinate justice issues during the interim, noting that a statutory re-creation and clear charge would be required.

The amendment leaves in place several sections the committee supported. One directs that victims may opt in to receive the same 90-day notice that offenders receive when earned-time reductions adjust release dates; Fitzpatrick said the Center for Crime Victim Services requested the change and that it would be optional for victims. The amendment also creates a victim-notification-system task force to review and recommend improvements to automated and statutory notice processes, with a report expected in November.

The amendment clarifies how child support history may be considered in different court contexts. Fitzpatrick said the revision reinstates language allowing child support history to be considered in private adoption disputes (for example, when a stepparent seeks to adopt and a biological parent objects) but makes explicit that child support history is not relevant in Department for Children and Families (DCF) termination-of-parental-rights proceedings, where the focus is the child’s best interest.

On sentencing, the amendment keeps a House-proposed reduction of community service hours for second-offense DUI from 200 to 80 hours to encourage use of community service rather than repeated short jail stints, and removes a three-year sunset the House had attached, allowing the change to remain in statute without an automatic expiration.

Committee members also discussed a change to the capital budget review process for county courthouse requests: the amendment adds criteria the court administrator must consider before recommending whether assistant judges’ capital requests should be included in the statewide capital bill, with the change delayed to take effect July 1, 2026. A requirement for an interim report on implementation was struck as unnecessary because the delayed effective date gives administrators time to implement the criteria before the law takes effect.

Senator Norris asked several procedural and fiscal questions during the discussion, including whether members of newly created task forces would receive per diem. “Is there any per diem that goes along with this?” Senator Norris asked; Fitzpatrick said he did not recall any per diem provision in the draft and would confirm.

Committee members and staff agreed to finalize a clean amendment document for floor use and circulate it to members. A roll-call confirmation in committee registered affirmative responses from several senators and the committee indicated it would bring the amendment to the Senate floor for further consideration.

Next steps: staff said they will proof and distribute the finalized amendment language to committee members and floor-reporting senators, and Fitzpatrick said he would follow up on outstanding clarifying questions, including whether any lease or payment arrangements exist between counties and the state for courthouse space. "I'll circle back," Fitzpatrick said.

Less-critical procedural items discussed during the meeting included how the amendment would be presented on the floor and which senator would report it.