Thursday, May 8, 2014

Here is a quick summary of where we are as of early Thursday. I’ve already reported that the minor guardianship bill (H.581) has passed. This week H. 88, the bill dealing with parent child contact between a child of a sexual assault and an offender has passed. The House concurred with the Senate version of the bill, thanks in large part to the testimony of Family Law Section Chair Penny Benelli and Kate Kennedy.

Although the appropriations conference committee has not yet signed off on a deal, as of right now funding for the judiciary, the defender general and Vermont Legal Aid appear to be secure. There doesn’t appear to be any disagreement between the conferees on those numbers. But, as of yesterday there was a new $2.2 million hole in the budget. But without resolution of the tax bill, it’s too early to close on the spending side. Adjournment Saturday? Maybe not.

Yesterday the House and Senate agreed on H. 497, the open meeting bill. Our Municipal Law Section had objections to language in the House passed version that infringed upon the right to confidential attorney client conversations, restricting  when the could occur in executive session. Kudos again to Chuck Storrow, Dan Richardson and Peg Flory. But I need to acknowledge the efforts many of our Municipal Law Section members made in contacting senators on the Government Operations Committee. It was interesting to hear some of them say things in committee that sounded very much like the emails you wrote to them! Even though I’ve been at this a long time, I must say that I was surprised to find the VBA arguing with the ACLU to protect the attorney client privilege! I still don’t understand why they took the position they did.

As of now, the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction bill, H. 413, has passed both chambers and appears ready with one small change. The House yesterday rolled back the effective date to July 1, 2016 from the earlier Senate date of July 1, 2015. The Senate concurred in the House changes. This makes Vermont the first state to adopt this bill, drafted by a Uniform Law Commission committee headed by Rich Cassidy. Congratulations to Rich as he moves towards becoming President of the ULC!
Finally the House and Senate agreed on S. 263, the bill that would allow assistant judges to sit with magistrates in family division in all but child support contempt proceedings. What I found interesting is that it seems to have come out of the House Judiciary Committee with no testimony and was used as a vehicle for another measure to require rulemaking for ethical standards for hearing officers. The bill came out of committee, moved through the House and Senate Wednesday and was finalized today. Such is the end of the session!

Unless there is a last minute hiccup, this may be my last report of the session. Please contact me if I have not reported on something you think I should have; I’ll try to get you the most current info. But in the meantime, I’m waiting to hear that final gavel fall! Enjoy spring and thanks for reading.