Penalities for threats of bodily harm, traffic ticket forgiveness and data collection top the list for the Senate and House judiciary committees this session.
The committees will also evaluate the state’s role in addressing broader issues, including the opiate addiction crisis, biking safety in the wake of recent fatalities, the temporary shutdown of a wing of the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital and a proposal to funnel a $2 per night surcharge for hotel stays into affordable housing programs for homeless Vermonters.
Worker safety and child protection
Lawmakers passed reforms last year to Vermont’s child protection system in the wake of the deaths of two young children whose families had been in contact with the Department for Children and Families.
This year, lawmakers will be revisiting the child protection system in the wake of another tragedy — the fatal shootings of social worker Lara Sobel in August and three women who reported child abuse to the department.
In Senate Judiciary, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, plans to move forward with a bill that would criminalize threats to social workers and people who report abuse to the Department for Children and Families. Under S.154, a person who threatens a social work or abuse reporter will be subject to jail time for up to one year and a $1,000 fine.
The legislation also applies the same penalties for assaulting a social worker that are now in state statute for law enforcement, firefighters and emergency workers — jail time and a $1,000 fine.
The changes in statute are in direct response to the murders and a rising number of threats to social worker safety.
DCF Commissioner Ken Schatz told lawmakers recently that more than 100 threats have been directed at members of the department since the shooting this summer.
In House Human Services, Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, will also zero in on social worker safety. She plans to revisit a bill she introduced last year, H.74, which would require state agencies and organizations that contract with the state to have a comprehensive worker safety plan. The plan must include an assessment of workplace safety for state programs, and violence prevention and crisis response protocols.
Pugh’s committee will also examine a proposal from the governor to fortify the child protection system with 28 new social workers beginning in the spring, and several other additions to the criminal justice system — including more substance abuse treatment support staff and new positions in the judiciary.
Additional workers — and therefore lower caseloads — are “an essential piece” of social worker safety, Pugh said.
Pugh, Sears and Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, will also revisit Act 60, formerly S.9, the child protection package that was passed last year. The House Human Services Committee will re-evaluate statutory requirements for information on the child protection registry and language relating to mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect.
License suspensions, biking safety
House Judiciary will put driver’s license suspension under the microscope.
Committee chair Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, says her committee will pick up on the work of a task force of law enforcement and criminal justice officials, which met last year to consider license suspension.
At two events in the past year, Vermonters were allowed in certain counties to pay off old traffic tickets for $20 each — clearing the way to have their licenses reinstated.
“We know how successful the driver restoration days have been,” Grad said, referencing events held in Burlington and White River Junction earlier this year, “but really the next step is to do something statewide.”
That’s one piece of a broader effort to consider highway safety, Grad said. She also plans to look at traffic fatalities, particularly as related to cyclists and motorcyclists.
Privacy
In the first weeks of the session, Senate Judiciary plans to complete work on a privacy measure, S.18, introduced by Sens. Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, and Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, during the first half of the biennium. The committee met in October and November to begin work on the bill.
The bill touches broadly on privacy issues and electronic data collection. It includes sections that relate to use of drones by law enforcement, retention of data collected by automated license plate readers, and sharing of medical data.
The committee still needs to decide on a section that will determine when law enforcement needs a warrant, versus a subpoena, to access certain types of cell phone data.
Mental health services
Pugh’s committee will examine the Vermont Psychiatric hospital and the length of time someone might wait before space is available for treatment.
During the summer, a wing of the facility was shut down because of a shortage of nurses.
“While I believe we’re moving forward, there was way too much time this summer when the hospital was not fully staffed,” Pugh said.
Treatment of mental illness also dovetails with the criminal justice system. During the off-session, the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee met several times about the integration of mental health services and the prison system, following the suicide of an inmate at Southern State Correctional Facility in the spring. Another prisoner died by suicide in December.
The oversight panel will draft a resolution on the issue, but Sears also expects to spend some time on it in his committee. Prisons are the “institution of last resort,” he said.
Sears will examine the efficacy of the pretrial services program that rolled out this year, which is designed to divert people with mental health and substance abuse issues out of the courts and correctional system.
Opiates
Meanwhile, opiate addiction continues to be a major concern for many committees.
House Judiciary will spend time “getting a handle on our opiate situation,” Grad said. “It’s one of the things that is driving our caseloads and putting stresses on the judiciary.”
Opiates will be on the agenda in House Human Services, as well. Pugh raised concerns about lengthy waitlists for treatment at some facilities around the state.
“The issue of substance abuse, including alcohol and opiates continues to be a driving factor of what is preventing families and individuals from succeeding and moving the state forward,” Pugh said.
Other themes
Early in the session, House Human Services will partner with House General, Housing and Military Affairs to take a look at homelessness and affordable housing in Vermont, Pugh said.
The Pathways from Poverty Council has recommended a $2 per night fee on hotel rooms to help pay for emergency shelters and affordable housing for homeless families and individuals.
Some 7,251 adults and 1,348 children found shelter in nine emergency shelters associated with the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence in 2014.
The Joint Fiscal Office has projected that the occupancy fee would generate $12 million in revenue annually.
House Judiciary will spend some time revisiting a law passed several years ago on fair and impartial policing. Grad said that she’d like to look at data that the state has been collecting regarding bias and policing.
Pugh would also like to look at aging in Vermont, as the state’s population ranks as one of the oldest in the country, she said.
“What benefits does that present to the state and what are some of the challenges,” Pugh said.
One part of that will be legislation preventing financial exploitation of elders.
