House Judiciary reviews Amendment 3.1 to S.109; committee votes to find it favorable

The Vermont House Judiciary Committee reviewed draft amendment 3.1 to S.109, the Miscellaneous Judiciary Bill, and voted to find the amendment favorable after staff outlined technical edits and several substantive changes rolled in from other committees.

Eric Fitzpatrick, Legislative Counsel with the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee he would "walk the committee through the latest amendment to S-one hundred and 9, which is the Miscellaneous Judiciary Bill," and that the bill had been updated to include suggestions from House Ways and Means and House Appropriations.

Fitzpatrick described multiple changes in the draft. He said the amendment removes sections on public inebriation that were also included in S.36 so the provisions would remain only in S.36, which he said was "on the governor's desk." He described new language creating a Firearm Surrender Order Compliance Working Group to examine where and how firearms are surrendered across Vermont law and to recommend consistent procedures; Fitzpatrick said the House Appropriations Committee requested language clarifying that Fish and Wildlife be consulted by the working group in some situations. He emphasized this addition would make Fish and Wildlife a consulting party rather than a formal member.

Fitzpatrick also flagged grammatical and terminology corrections requested by Appropriations, including changing two erroneous uses of the term "task force" to "working group" for internal consistency. He said the amendment incorporates a submission from the Department for Children and Families (DCF) narrowing when a parent's child support payment history may be considered in proceedings, adding that the Family Services Division "shall not consider payment of child support to the family service division to offset the cost of foster care" when DCF is pursuing termination of parental rights; Fitzpatrick and other committee members discussed that child-support history may still be relevant in neglect or abuse determinations.

Other changes Fitzpatrick noted include expanding membership of the Victim Information and Notification (VIN) system task force to add a member familiar with VIN technical operations and adding language requested by Representative Donahue to ensure working-group reports address statutory changes or consolidation of guardianship systems.

After discussion and procedural remarks, a motion to find draft 3.1 of S.109 favorable was moved and seconded; the committee proceeded to vote in favor of recommending the amendment as drafted.

The committee preserved a number of technical clarifications rather than substantive rework: multiple working groups and task forces were standardized in terminology, and several committees’ edits were folded into this single amendment to streamline further proceedings. Several committee members asked staff clarifying questions about the scope of new working groups, the exact limits of DCF's narrowed language, and whether certain provisions required additional committee referrals; Fitzpatrick and other counsel answered that some changes came from Appropriations and Corrections and had been incorporated for efficiency.

The committee recorded the vote to find amendment 3.1 favorable and indicated they would monitor the amendment as it moves through subsequent steps. No ordinance, statute, or final rule was adopted at this meeting; the committee’s action was to recommend the draft favorably for further process.

Ending: Committee members said they would follow the amendment as it proceeds and would return with questions if details required additional legal review.