A ban on powdered alcohol, the end of hand-held cellphone use while driving and several sweeping overhauls to the criminal justice system are some of more than two dozen criminal justice bills that passed the Vermont Legislature this session.
Lawmakers on the criminal justice committees spent the bulk of their time in Montpelier this session focused on a complex but uncontroversial bill about pretrial services, which attempts to meet the substance abuse or mental health needs of people who might be charged with a crime. The bill also encourages state’s attorneys to create precharge programs and it expands alternative justice programs statewide.
Judiciary Committee members from both chambers also spent hours wrangling over a bill about drugged driving. They struggled to fairly word a bill intended to help police nab dangerous drivers.
They also converged on bills about police use of Tasers, racial profiling by police and medical marijuana dispensary regulations. Passionate floor debate by House lawmakers about bias-free policing was among the most engaging back-and-forth of the session on a criminal justice bill.
In perhaps a foreshadowing of a larger gun control debate to come next session, lawmakers reached agreement on a gun storage bill. The accord came only after much disagreement over the mechanics of a system to encourage people ordered not to possess weapons as a result of a relief from abuse order to give them to police.
Several last-minute amendments to other bills also intersected with criminal justice concerns. Lawmakers banned powdered alcohol and required child-proof caps on bottles of liquid nicotine, which is used to refill electronic cigarettes.
In perhaps the most surprising resuscitation of the session, House lawmakers in the final days of the session revived a bill banning handheld cellphone use while driving. Gov. Peter Shumlin vehemently opposed the legislation at the beginning of the session, but eventually relented.
Meanwhile, Shumlin’s State of the State address on opiate addiction echoed throughout the judiciary, human services and corrections committees this session. Lawmakers sought to pass bills that would combat addiction and deal more effectively with addicts who have a brush with the law.
The pretrial services bill also contains sections cracking down on the street sale of the drug buprenorphine, which is prescribed to treat opiate addiction. The bill also creates stricter penalties for robbery. Sen. Dick Sears said his constituents worry about becoming victim to people stealing to pay for their drug habits.
S.295 also seeks to provide better, more holistic care to people in treatment for opiate addiction, including a better system for referrals to counseling and an opiate treatment pilot program for patients in prison.
A provision of the bill allows pharmacists to make the heroin overdose-reversing drug naloxone hydrochloride (Narcan) available over the counter. Police are already using the drug.
The current system of part-time police officers, who have full powers but minimal training, will become a relic in Vermont thanks to a bill that overhauls the system of training and responsibility. The bill creates a new tiered system where officers’ authority corresponds to their training.
Slightly outside the spotlight but no less important were several other criminal justice bills.
Lawmakers reformed the legal process for minor guardianships, despite a brief, last-minute spat with the Franklin County Bar Association, which objected to much of the bill.
Lawmakers passed a bill that allows people found incompetent to stand trial because of traumatic brain injury to be eligible to be committed for mental illness or disability services. Witnesses said TBI patients often were released back into the community without a conviction, only to commit more crimes.
They also approved legislation that lists “collateral consequences,” in an attempt to help people understand the penalties and disqualifications they face if they are convicted of a crime. Those penalties include the inability to get certain licenses or jobs or receive public housing or education. Lawmakers said often people are unaware of the ripple effect a guilty plea (or conviction) could have.
After much lobbying from animal rescue workers, lawmakers passed legislation to streamline the legal process for civil forfeiture, an attempt to help animal rescue groups afford to care for those animals while court cases inch forward.
Another piece of legislation limits the rights of biological fathers whose children were conceived as a result of a sexual assault, even in cases where the parent was not convicted of such a crime in court.
Lawmakers also passed two bills backed by the national policy organization the Innocence Project, one seeking to prevent eyewitnesses from identifying the wrong suspect and the other requiring police to record interviews with suspects.
Related stories
Pretrial services
Gun storage requirement for restraining orders
Child-proof packaging required for e-cigarettes
Cellphone use while driving prohibited
Addicts arrested for alleged crimes to get treatment instead of jail time
Narcan to be made available at pharmacies
Lawmakers overhaul policying policies
Traumatic brain injury patients to receive mental health services
Legislators make it easier to seize abused animals
Law requires police to video record interviews in homicide cases
