Judiciary committee hears H.105 to expand youth substance-awareness program, fold 0.02 impaired-driving cases into diversion

The House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 18 considered H.105, a bill that would expand Vermont's Youth Substance Awareness Safety Program (YSASP), lower the minimum eligible age and roll civil impaired-driving cases with a 0.02 blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) into the YSASP diversion track, bill author and staff said.

"This bill does a few things," said Ben Novogrovsky of the Office of Legislative Council, describing the proposal to lower the minimum eligible age from 16 to 10 and to "include violations for youth to engage in impaired driving with a minimum 0.02 blood alcohol concentration." Novogrovsky presented the bill's text and said several existing statutes would be rolled into a single YSASP framework.

Committee witnesses and law-enforcement officials told lawmakers the changes are intended to reduce confusion among officers, youth and families and to accelerate intervention after an underage possession or low-BAC driving stop. Willa Farrell of Court Diversion and Pretrial Services, Office of the Attorney General, said the bill's purpose is to "have a very fast response" so young people receive a timely intervention and a consistent process. Lieutenant Paul Ravel of the Vermont State Police testified that streamlined paperwork and a single diversion track would make on-scene handling of large underage gatherings easier: "The sooner the education can get to them and get to them earlier and quicker, I think this is a beneficial program."

What the bill does

Ben Novogrovsky summarized the principal changes in H.105. The bill would: - Lower the minimum eligible age for…