Committee advances bill to codify and fund DOC family support program; committee votes draft 1.2 out with one dissent

The Corrections & Institutions Committee voted to advance draft 1.2 of H.219, a bill to establish a Department of Corrections Family Support Program that would provide parenting and family supports to incarcerated parents and guardians. Committee members discussed program scope, phased implementation, reporting requirements and appropriations before approving the draft by roll call.

The bill as drafted requires the Department of Corrections (DOC) to establish the family support program and to provide parenting and family-support services to incarcerated parents and guardians. Committee amendments removed findings language while retaining intent language and changed draft text to make statewide expansion contingent on funding. Section 4 of the draft specifies that the program “shall first implement” services at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility and Northern State Correctional Facility; committee members and witnesses discussed that language and its intent given an existing contract at the women’s facility.

Ken Schatz, interim CEO of Lund (a nonprofit provider), and Kim LaRoche, director of parent-child-center services at Lund, testified and answered committee questions. Schatz thanked the committee for its work on the bill and noted the existing program at the women’s facility; LaRoche supplied updated site-cost figures to committee staff during the meeting. The committee incorporated appropriations into the draft: members discussed earlier drafts that allocated roughly $114,870 for Chittenden and about $276,208 for Northern State to establish and support the program. Staff said numbers in the draft were updated from the most recent testimony before the committee sent the bill forward to appropriations.

Members debated whether the statute should limit or permit private fundraising in support of the program. Committee counsel and members noted that a prohibition would prevent nonprofit operators from supplementing appropriated funds; some members proposed clarifying language to state that fundraising or grants by operating nonprofit entities are permissible. The committee left the program’s contingent-on-funding language in place (the statute will operate “only to the extent funds are appropriated for its operation”), and members discussed that phased implementation and appropriations would determine the program’s spread to additional facilities.

Before the vote, staff emphasized to committee members that the draft would be read line-by-line in committee and that the committee reporter should be prepared to answer detailed questions on the floor. The committee then voted to advance draft 1.2. The roll call, as recorded in committee, showed a majority in favor, one recorded no vote and one member absent; the committee clerk will transmit the bill and the committee report to the next committee (appropriations) for fiscal review.

Votes at a glance

- Motion: Advance draft 1.2 of H.219 (Department of Corrections Family Support Program) to appropriations. Mover/second: not specified on the record. Outcome: approved by roll call. - Roll-call summary (committee record): Yes — Representative Greer; Representative Hedrick; Representative Jimenez; Representative Morrissey; Representative Winter; Representative Sweeney; Representative Grier; Committee chair (recorded as yes). No — Representative Munoz. Absent — Representative Galfetti.

The committee also asked DOC and the nonprofit partner (Lund) to provide clarifying cost and implementation details to appropriations staff and left the contingent-on-funding language in place so that statewide rollout would depend on future appropriations.