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House committee backs proposal to allow after-hours civil protection orders for assault victims
Summary
The Vermont House, on a voice vote, approved a Judiciary Committee recommendation to propose an amendment to Senate Bill 9 to allow emergency civil protection orders for assault to be obtained outside regular court hours; the House also ordered the bill read a third time.
The Vermont House of Representatives voted to propose an amendment to Senate Bill 9 to permit people to seek emergency civil protection orders for assault outside regular court hours, and then ordered the bill read a third time.
Representative Oliver, the member from Sheldon and speaker for the House Judiciary Committee, told the chamber that the bill’s purpose is “to allow a person to obtain an emergency protection order against assault outside of regular court hours in the same manner that emergency domestic violence orders are obtained.” He said issuance of those orders is a civil process separate from any criminal investigation or prosecution.
The committee’s explanation said current law allows temporary emergency protective orders modeled on domestic violence orders, valid for a maximum of 14 days until a final hearing. According to the committee summary read into the record, Senate Bill 9 (S.9) would clarify that orders against stalking must be obtained during regular court hours, change service procedures when a defendant is present in court so a mailed copy may suffice, and direct the court administrator to establish procedures and designate an authorized person to receive and transmit after-hours requests to a judge by telephone or other electronic means.
Representative Oliver described the after-hours process as one in which an affidavit may be sworn or affirmed over the telephone, the authorized person would communicate the complaint and affidavit to a judge by telephone or other electronic means, and, if granted, the judge’s order would be delivered to law enforcement for service. The committee recommended an effective date of Sept. 1, 2025, “to allow the court to establish the procedures and staffing necessary to implement the policy changes made in this bill.”
House Judiciary reported taking testimony from several parties, as noted in the committee report read into the record: the victim rights director, Vermont Legal Aid, legislative counsel, the director of policy for the Vermont Network Against Domestic and ****** Violence (redaction in transcript), the legislative attorney, department of state’s attorneys and sheriffs, the chief superior court judge, and Vermont Judiciary staff. The committee vote was recorded in the report as 9–0–2 in favor of the committee recommendation.
The House voted by voice to propose the Judiciary Committee’s amendments to the Senate and then, by voice vote, ordered third reading of the bill.
No individual roll-call vote or named dissents were recorded on the floor during the motions; the chair announced that “the ayes do have it.”
Implementation steps in the bill as read into the record assign the court administrator the task of creating procedures and designating authorized persons to receive after-hour requests, and the bill sets a specified effective date to allow that work to be completed.
If the Senate accepts the House’s proposed amendment, the changes would create a mechanism for civil emergency protection orders addressing assault to be requested and, if a judge grants them, delivered to law enforcement for service during nights, weekends, and holidays, similar to the existing after-hours process for domestic violence orders.
