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Parole board seeks independent counsel, budget study as committee reviews H.559
Summary
The Senate Institutions Committee heard testimony on H.559, which would clarify alternate-member status, pilot contracting of outside conflict counsel for parole cases, strengthen training, and require a budget study on whether the Parole Board should have a separate line outside the Department of Corrections.
The Senate Institutions Committee on March 31 examined H.559, a bill to modify the structure and legal support for Vermont's Parole Board and to study the board's budget placement.
In testimony before the committee, Mary Janie, director of the Parole Board, said the board currently has seven members (five statutory regular members and two alternates) but conducts hearings using rotating panels of three. "Our hearings are held with a forum of 3 board members," she said, and that current practice treats alternates like regular members. H.559 would change how alternates are defined in statute to reflect that practice.
The bill also responds to longstanding concerns about legal representation. Janie described a perceived conflict when the board has been advised by an assistant attorney general who is part of the Department of Corrections litigation team, noting a statutory bar on an AAG employed by DOC counselling the board in…
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