Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House overrides governor to expand restorative justice pre-charge diversion
Summary
The House voted to override the governor's veto of H.645, establishing a statewide pre-charge diversion program overseen by the attorney general, with 110 yeas and 35 nays on a roll-call vote of 145 members present.
The Vermont House on a roll-call vote overrode the governor’s veto of H.645, a bill that expands restorative-justice approaches by establishing a statewide pre-charge diversion program to be overseen by the Office of the Attorney General.
A Member from South Burlington, speaking for the Judiciary Committee, said the bill addresses public-safety concerns and would set standards and uniform data collection for pre-charge diversion. The speaker said the attorney general supports H.645 and that the program’s effective date for AG administration is July 1, 2025. “This effective date change is supported by payers, providers, the administration, and your committee on health care,” the committee speaker said when discussing related implementation timing. (Committee context was presented in the course of debate.)
Opponents argued the bill imposes an unfunded mandate on the attorney general’s office; one member said “we have $0 appropriated for such a task” and that funding uncertainty made the bill unworkable.
The clerk recorded 145 members present; the vote was 110 yes, 35 no, exceeding the two-thirds threshold (97) required to override the veto. The House ordered its action messaged to the Senate forthwith.
Next steps: the House messaged the override to the Senate.
