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Officials, restorative justice providers urge $1.7M to expand precharge diversion statewide
Summary
Attorney General's office staff and restorative justice providers told a legislative committee that state funding and standardized data are needed to expand precharge diversion statewide under Act 180; the Attorney General's office proposed roughly $1.7 million to sustain existing programs and expand services.
Attorney General's Office staff and local restorative justice providers told a legislative committee that about $1.7 million in state funding is needed to expand precharge (pre‑charge) diversion statewide and to standardize data collection for tracking deflections from the criminal court system.
The funding request, presented by Willa Farrell of the Attorney General's Office, is intended to continue services where they already exist and to expand precharge options into more counties. Farrell told the committee, "we are asking for approximately 1,700,000.0, and that is to continue services where it exists and to expand that statewide." The office framed the work as both supportive and supervisory: it will provide training and policy guidance while holding local programs accountable through data and evaluation.
The request and discussion come after enactment of Act 180, which assigns responsibilities for some diversion guidance and oversight to the Attorney General's Office. Committee members heard from Heather Hobart, executive director of the Lamoille Restorative Center (LRC), who described how precharge referrals would work locally and the outcomes LRC reports. "Our mission is to uphold the dignity and resilience of individuals and families through principles, through restorative justice principles and programs," Hobart said. She told the committee LRC served 664 people last year; about 353 of those were handled on the legal side (court diversion, pretrial services, victim services) and the program reported a roughly 90 percent adult completion rate and about an 80 percent youth completion rate.
Hobart described the local referral flow: the state's attorney (Alyanna Gerhard in Lamoille County) reviews and approves referrals, LRC conducts an intake and signs participants to a contract of accountability, and staff monitor completion over the course of roughly three months. Hobart said precharge referrals would follow essentially the same service pathway but operate faster and avoid the court process: "The only difference is that we'd be avoiding all of that the court process," she told the committee.
Tim Lueders-Dumont, appearing as prosecution‑related staff, emphasized that many prosecutors already exercise discretion to decline or refer cases to community resources and that formalizing precharge tracking will improve measurement. "The option of deflection is something that we're going to use regardless," he said, adding that codified tracking will help capture deflections that are already occurring informally across smaller communities.
Committee members pressed on costs and sustainability. Hobart said it costs LRC roughly $100,000 to employ one full‑time staffer, and she expressed difficulty hiring part‑time positions. Funding sources discussed included federal victim services grants (VAWA), a local referenced funding stream of about $200,000 described as "barge"/Medicaid match funding, and the possibility of SAMHSA support for substance‑related interventions. Hobart identified $53,000 in federal victim services funds her program received last year. The panel also referenced a Grama Research Unit cost study, which used Vermont time‑study data to compare judicial system labor costs with diversion program costs; committee members noted that the available cost analysis covers older data and may need updating.
Speakers and committee members also flagged geographic inequities: larger communities often have more on‑ramp options (walk‑in centers, street teams, unified diversion centers) while smaller or more rural counties have fewer community resources to which prosecutors or police can refer. Farrell said the Attorney General's Office would produce a manual and data systems to set expectations for victim communication and program roles and to allow comparison and accountability across providers.
The committee did not vote on funding during the hearing. Farrell said the office planned to present more detailed budget figures to the appropriation committee and that staff would return for a follow‑up meeting; she also noted that the governor's proposed budget did not include precharge funding prior to the Attorney General's request. The office indicated it would appear again on Feb. 24 to discuss budget details and methodology.
