Advocates tell committee S.193 should exclude people with intellectual disabilities, urge investment in community supports

Summary

Two witnesses told the committee that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities should not be housed in a proposed forensic facility under S.193, arguing competency is generally not restorable for this population and urging higher service rates, clinical expertise, and other community supports instead.

Two longtime advocates told a legislative committee that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) should be excluded from S.193, the bill proposing a forensic facility for some criminal-justice–involved people, and urged lawmakers to strengthen home- and community-based services instead.

"People with developmental disabilities cannot be restored to competency," said Barbara Lee, a retired physician and co-chair of the State Program Standing Committee, during her testimony. Lee said the committee voted unanimously in October 2023 and again on March 19, 2026, to oppose placing people with IDD in a forensic facility and recommended amending qualifying-language in the bill to exclude them. The committee, she said, instead recommends allocating resources to community supports in the least restrictive setting.

Barbara Prine, a staff attorney in the Disability Law Project at Vermont Legal Aid who has represented…

Advocates tell committee S.193 should exclude people with intellectual disabilities, urge investment in community supports

Summary

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