Defender General's Office Backs S.9 to Align Certain civil protection procedures

The Senate Judiciary Committee took up S.9 on Feb. 4, focused on aligning procedures for a class of civil protection orders with the procedures used for other protective orders. Marshall Paul of the Office of the Defender General testified in support of the bill, saying the changes would make procedures more consistent across different types of protective orders.

"They make the civil protection process for protective orders against ****** assault really, fit sort of into the same process as other civil protection orders," Paul said, adding that greater consistency is beneficial for practitioners and for defendants and victims involved in related criminal cases.

Paul told the committee that civil protection-order violations are frequently charged as crimes and that changes on the civil side have practical effects on criminal caseloads. "Violations of civil protection orders are some of the most commonly charged crimes in Vermont," he said.

Committee members asked whether S.9 would change the Office of the Defender General's workload. Paul said it would not: the office expects orders that would have been issued after hours to be issued later in regular proceedings, so the bill should not materially alter what the office sees in practice.

Committee members did not propose amendments during the hearing and indicated no additional witnesses were required at this time, though one member said staff would reach out to another person named Tim to check for comments. No formal vote on S.9 was recorded during the session.

The hearing record shows brief discussion about consolidating various protective-order procedures into a single statutory scheme; Paul said that, from a practitioner standpoint, having a consolidated statutory scheme could make sense but acknowledged legislative practicality may differ. The committee left the bill under consideration pending its regular process.