Senate Judiciary reviews H.222 changes to stalking definition, vehicle possession and domestic-violence accountability programs

The Senate Judiciary Committee on April 25 reviewed H.222, a bill that would amend Vermont's civil protection statutes to (1) broaden the "course of conduct" definition used for stalking to include some forms of electronic and device-enabled surveillance, (2) allow courts to award temporary possession of a vehicle to a plaintiff in both final and ex parte relief-from-abuse orders when necessary to escape or prevent abuse, and (3) permit a judge to require a defendant to complete a domestic violence accountability program (DVAP) approved by the Vermont Council on Domestic Violence as a condition of a civil protection order.

Committee staff member Michelle Childs, Office of Legislative Counsel, told the panel the bill amends the Title 12 stalking provisions that are cross-referenced by Title 15 domestic-relief-from-abuse statutes. "We're talking about orders against stalking or [sexual] assault," Childs said, and noted the primary change is to the statutory definition of "course of conduct," which currently requires two or more acts over any period of time or continuous electronic surveillance for 12 hours or more. Childs said the change is intended to capture evolving electronic monitoring techniques.

The change would treat some forms of unauthorized digital monitoring'for example, software or apps that…