Legislation that would create a panel to examine racial disparities in the criminal justice system is headed to the governor’s desk.
H.308 cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday when the Senate approved the latest language added to the bill by the House last week.
The bill will establish a 13-member panel that will look into and offer suggestions for how to remedy racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.
It also requires that a policy on fair and impartial policing that serves as a model for all law enforcement agencies in the state be reviewed to ensure it complies with federal immigration law. The bill would require that the new model policy, which must be in place early next year, not have any optional sections, as the current policy does.
Recent data collection has found that people of color are more likely to be stopped, ticketed and searched by police in Vermont. Black people are incarcerated in Vermont at a rate 10 times that of white people, according to a 2016 report.
The proposal for the criminal justice-focused commission came in the Senate’s bill as a scaled-back version of legislation that passed the House. The House’s language would have created a commission charged with oversight of racial disparities in areas including housing, employment and school discipline across the state.
Though the House proposal will not go forward this year, the lower chamber did attach language to the bill last week directing the administration to work with the attorney general and the Human Rights Commission to look into setting up a panel that would look at racial justice broadly in Vermont.
Rep. Kiah Morris, D-Bennington, a co-sponsor of the House legislation, said she would be interested in following up next year to establish that commission. Creating such a panel would be “unprecedented,” she said.
Though this year’s bill does not create the commission, the passage of H.308 is a positive step for the state, she said.
“I think it is a cause for celebration,” Morris said. “We’re still doing something historic.”
Rep. Diana Gonzalez, P-Winooski, another co-sponsor of the House bill, said the criminal justice system is “the last stop of inequities.” She praised the bill and said it keeps the door open to establishing a commission with a broader focus.
Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-Hartford, said he is pleased with the final version of the legislation. Though the bill does not include the commission with a broad scope, it gives the state flexibility to move forward in that direction, he said.
Vermont has made progress with racial disparities, he said, and the legislation fits in with that course.
“Do I still have questions? Do I still have feelings that we need to do more? Of course,” he said. “But the work we’re doing is positive, and it’s headed in the right direction.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised the “good work” lawmakers did on the bill.
The Senate agreed Monday with the language the House added to study setting up a commission with a broader focus.