Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Speaker 0]: Will the house please come to order and members kindly take their seats. Good morning. Members, in lieu of a devotional today, will you please join me in a moment of silence? Members, it is our custom on Fridays to honor members of the house who have passed away since our last memorial. Will you please rise as we remember former house members who we recently lost? Representative Avis Jarvis of Eniesburg, born in 1933, served in the house from 1997 to 2008, and passed away on 07/26/2025. Representative Ernie Shan junior of Wethersfield was born in 1940 and served in the house from 2003 through 2012 and passed away on 09/16/2025. Representative Ernest Burrows of Eden was born in 1941 and served in the house from 1973 through 1982 and passed away on 10/10/2025. And representative Malcolm f Severance of Colchester was born in 1924 and served in the house from 1999 through 2006 and passed away on 11/24/2025. Please join me in a moment of silence in memory of these house members. Members, we have 12 bills for introduction this morning. The first is house bill six twenty six, which is an act relating to voyeurism and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent introduced by representative arsenal of Williston and others. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: H six two six, an act relating to voyeurism and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on judiciary. House bill six twenty seven is an act relating to crime victims rights in forensic cases introduced by representative Rachel of Burlington and Arsenault. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six two seven, an act relating to crime victims rights in forensic cases.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on judiciary. House bill six twenty eight is an act relating to the domestic to domestic abuse orders of protection introduced by representative Arsenault of Williston. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six two eight, an act relating to domestic abuse orders of protection.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on judiciary. House bill six twenty nine and is an act relating to judgments issued by the family division of the superior court introduced by representative of South Burlington. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: H six two nine, an act relating to judgments issued by the family division of the superior court.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on judiciary. House bill six thirty is an act relating to adopting minimum security standards for connected devices introduced by representative Rachelson of Burlington. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty, an act relating to adopting minimum security standards for connected devices.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time. It's referred to the committee on commerce and economic development. House bill six thirty one is an act relating to energy storage goals introduced by representatives Campbell of Saint Johnsbury and James of Manchester. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: H six thirty one, an act relating to establishing energy storage goals.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on energy and digital infrastructure. House bill six thirty two is an act relating to miscellaneous environmental amendments introduced by representative Sheldon of Middlebury. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty two, an act relating to miscellaneous environmental amendments.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on environment. House Bill six thirty three is an act relating to requiring municipalities to hold a vote concerning the operation of cannabis retail establishments introduced by representative of Barrie City. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty three, an act relating to requiring municipalities to hold a vote concerning the operation of cannabis retail establishments.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on government operations and military affairs. House bill six thirty four is an act relating to consumption of cannabis and prohibited space introduced by representative of Barrie City. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty four, an act relating to consumption of cannabis in a prohibited place.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and has referred to the committee on government operations and military affairs. House bill six thirty five is an act relating to eliminating department of corrections supervisory fees fees introduced by representative Hedrick of Burlington. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty five, an act relating to eliminating department of corrections supervisory fees.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on corrections and institutions. House bill six thirty six is an act relating to an independent monitoring board for body worn camera footage introduced by representative Rachel Sin of Burlington. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty six, an act relating to an independent monitoring board for body worn camera footage.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time. He's referred to the committee on government operations and military affairs. And finally, house bill six thirty seven, which is an act relating to operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and other substances introduced by representatives Goodnow of Brattleboro and Malone of South Burlington. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[Speaker 1]: Age six thirty seven, an act relating to operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

[Speaker 0]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on judiciary. Are there any announcements? Member from Berkshire. Thank

[Speaker 2]: you. The Vermont National Guard and Veterans Affairs Caucus will meet Tuesday morning at 8AM in Route 10. We will be meeting the candidates for the position of adjutant general. A Zoom link and calendar invitation will be sent out later today. If you would like to be added to the distribution list, please see representative Pinsenault. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Are there any further announcements? Member from Barrie City.

[Speaker 3]: Thank you, madam speaker. In Barrie City, we love a reason to celebrate, whether it's heritage festival or memorial day or the short lived Teddy Wazak appreciation day of twenty twenty four. But this weekend, the other representative from Barrie City has a birthday, and I'd ask the chamber to wish representative Boutin a happy birthday.

[Speaker 0]: Happy birthday, member. Member from Pulteney.

[Speaker 4]: Madam speaker, while it is our practice to the first Friday of every month to recognize those representatives who have passed, I'd also like to acknowledge the passing of Cornelius L. Reed on 09/22/2005. Cornelius served our house for twenty five years as a doorkeeper. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Well, members, rise. Let's take a moment of silence to remember him. Are there any further announcements? Member from Saint Albans City Town.

[Speaker 5]: Thank you, madam speaker. For the last seven years, I've had the privilege of introducing my wife and my two oldest boys to the body. Today, I'm here to introduce a new member to my family and a new constituent of mine. He's the one in the background making all that noise during announcements. If you would please help me welcome my wife, Hailey, who gave birth to our beautiful son, Brooker Casey Tooth, on 07/07/2025. They are right behind me in the gallery, and please give him a warm welcome. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Will the guest and member from Saint Albans Town please rise and be recognized. Are there any further announcements? Seeing none. Orders of the day. Members, we will begin with house bill 28 which is an act relating to including an affirmative affirmation option. I can't talk today. And oath requirements in titles one through 10 of the Vermont statutes annotated, the bill was referred to the committee on judiciary which recommends that the house which recommends that the bill be amended as printed in today's calendar. The member from West Rutland, representative Burditt will speak for the committee. Please listen to the second reading of the bill.

[Speaker 6]: Page 28. An act relating to including an affirmation option in both requirements in titles one through 10 of the Vermont statutes annotated.

[Speaker 0]: Member from West Boutin.

[Speaker 7]: Thank you, madam speaker. Happy New Year, everyone. It took me sixteen years to be able to be do the first bill of the session, so here I am. H28 begins a potentially multi year process of specifically adding language providing the option of an affirmation everywhere in the VSA in which there is references to an oath or to be being sworn in. Age 28 covers titles one through 10 of the VSA with bills likely in future years to address titles 11 through 33. One VSA one twenty seven already specifies that oath includes affirmation and sworn includes affirmed, but h 28 adds the affirmation language to each statute where oath or sworn or similar language appears so the reader doesn't need to know about the existence of the title one provision. Section one of age 28 also amends one VSA 127 to make the language more understandable. Some minimal technical amendments are included throughout the bill to correct grammar, add clarity, and remove gendered language in the existing statutory language. Section 104 specifies that the purpose of the act is to add the affirmation language and to make minor technical amendments and expresses legislative intent that those changes should not supersede any more substantive changes enacted by the general assembly during the twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six biennium. The House Judiciary Committee's amendment would update four statutes that were amended in 2025 after the bill was introduced in order to clearly preserve the 2025 amendments. It also it would also change the effective date from 07/01/2025 to 01/01/2027. Madam Speaker, we heard from deputy chief counsel, office of legislative counsel, the amendment sponsor, house committee on environment, and deputy secretary of state, secretary of state's office. And the the vote in committee was ten zero one, and we would certainly appreciate your support. Madam speaker, I'm gonna go off off script here for a second. And there was concern in the building with this bill that there there was there was gonna be an attempt at some point to eliminate the swearing in part of of of the oath. And I don't believe that's gonna happen. And and what I did in committee is, I brought it up in committee, because there there is a number of people who do have that concern in the building. And and and I and I brought it up for that reason. And and I asked the chair, you know, while we were in session in committee, if there is any intent by our committee I wanted to say, is there any intent by the legislature? But our committee certainly can't dictate what the legislature is gonna do. But I ask if there's any intent in our committee to eliminate the swearing in part at any time in the future. And I'm gonna paraphrase. I don't remember exactly what he said, but in a nutshell, his answer is no. And he's they I should say, they said to get rid of the gender that as long as they are chair of commit the committee, and if somebody brings in a bill that states to do just that, it will not come off the wall. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Question is, shall the bill be amended as recommended by the committee on judiciary? Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and you have amended the bill. Now the question is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it and third reading is ordered. Members, the final bill on our action calendar today is house bill four zero nine, which is an act relating to procedures for bail revocation. The bill is referred to the committee on judiciary, which recommends that the bill be amended as printed in today's calendar. The member from Brattleboro, representative Goodnow, will speak for the committee. Please listen to the second reading of the bill.

[Speaker 6]: H four zero nine, an act relating to the procedures for bail revocation.

[Speaker 0]: Member from Brattleboro.

[Speaker 8]: Before the chamber is the house judiciary committee's strike all amendment of h four zero nine entitled an act relating to the procedures for bail revocation. Madam speaker, this bill proposes two changes to existing statute. First, the bill provides a technical fix to our bail statute to ensure that eligible sealable misdemeanors continue to have a bail cap of $200, aligning language that was changed in the last legislative session. Second, this bill aims to provide a clear path for prosecutors to appeal a denied motion for revocation of a defendant's bail. Section one of the bill found on page 16 of today's calendar amends 13 VSA seven five seven five five one b one b and b two, replacing the word expungement with the word ceiling as it applies to eligible misdemeanors for the $200 bail cap. Last session, this body amended our expungement and ceiling law so that these listed misdemeanors, along with some others, are now sealable, not expungible. We neglected to change the corresponding language in the bail statute, and this technical correction ensures that bail cap continues to apply to these now sealable misdemeanors and avoids confusion in the judiciary. Moving on to section two, madam speaker. H four zero nine proposes to amend 13 VSA seven five five six. This section outlines the process through which the state or defendant in a pending criminal matter could appeal an ordered condition of release or a hold without bail order. H four zero nine amends this section to create a process to appeal a denied motion for a bail revocation. This can be seen in the proposed change to 13 VSA seven five five six found on the top of page 18 of today's calendar that creates a new subsection two. As you will see, madam speaker, in this new subsection two, there is now a clear or at least hopefully clear process for the state to appeal a denied motion for bail revocation following the process already established in subsection one of the statute. But you may be asking, what is a bail revocation? A motion. What is a bail revocation motion? This is a process as established in 13 VSA seven five seven five in which the state, in limited circumstances, can make a motion to the court asking a judge to take away a defendant's right to bail, essentially holding them without bail. I say that this remedy is only available in limited circumstances because defendants in Vermont have a constitutional right to bail, And so a motion by the state to limit or take away that right needs to be allowed in only limited circumstances. Seven five seven five provides a prosecutor with five different specific circumstances for which a revocation of bail might be appropriate. But what happens when a prosecutor makes a motion for revocation citing one of these five reasons and the presiding judge denies the motion? Currently, there is no clear way for a prosecutor to seek relief of a higher court, in this instance, would be the Vermont Supreme Court, to argue that the lower court judge got it wrong. H four zero nine will now allow for that appeal to occur. The house passed the language that you see around bail revocation, in the last session's miscellaneous judiciary bill. However, the senate judiciary committee struck the language because they did not have the time to fully evaluate the issue. With h four zero nine, we are sending it back to them with what we hope now will be sufficient time for them to review it. The act shall take effect on passage. We heard from the following witnesses, madam speaker, the team lead of legislative council and legislative council from the Office of Legislative Council, general counsel from the Department of Public Safety, legislative attorney from the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, supervising attorney of the appellate division from the Office of the Defender General, and the chief superior judge from the Vermont judiciary. All of these witnesses were in favor of the changes provided in h four zero nine. The committee vote was ten one zero, and we ask for your support.

[Speaker 0]: The question is, shall the bill be amended as recommended by the committee on judiciary? Are you ready for the question? Member from South Burlington.

[Speaker 7]: I hate to correct my, junior member, but it was ten zero one, just to be clear.

[Speaker 0]: The question is, shall the bill be amended as recommended by the committee on judiciary? Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and you have amended the bill. Now the question is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and third reading is ordered. Members, that completes the orders of the day. Are there any announcements? Seeing none. Member from Holtney, can you please offer us a motion to adjourn until Tuesday, January 13 at 10AM?

[Speaker 4]: Madam speaker, I make a motion this body stand in adjournment until Tuesday, 01/13/2026 at 10AM.

[Speaker 0]: The member from Hultney moves that we adjourn until Tuesday, January 13 at 10AM. Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it and this body stands in adjournment until next Tuesday at 10AM.