Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The Senate named its committees last Friday and they have begun working this week. I will list the membership of both the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations Committees as I did with House committees last week. 

The Judiciary committee has exactly the same members as last session:

Sen. Sears, Chair

Sen. Benning, Vice-Chair

Sen. White

Sen. Nitka
Sen. Ashe

The Appropriations Committee, a seven member committee has these members:

Sen. Kitchel, Chair

Sen. Nitka, Vice-Chair

Sen. Sears

Sen. Starr

Sen. McCormack

Sen. Ashe

Sen. Westman

It’s important to note that three of five judiciary committee members also serve on the money committee. They are very knowledgeable of the funding needs of the judiciary as well as civil justice providers such as Vermont Legal Aid.

Back on the House side things got started quickly in the Judiciary Committee as the Tuesday morning calendar opened with a presentation by the five Supreme Court Justices on the judicial branch and “results abased accountability”. All five spoke to the committee along with Court Administrator Pat Gabel and Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson. Their handouts to the committee can be found here: http://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2018/18/Date/1-10-2017

The VBA made its presentation in the afternoon with Teri Corsones and I addressing the committee about our association, its mission and its many accomplishments in advancing access to justice for all Vermonters.

Many bills have already been introduced and many more are to come. The VBA has an interest in a number of them of course and I will be circulating those to Section Chairs for distribution and discussion on our list serves.

The Judicial Retention process will soon begin when the Speaker of the House and the Committee on Committees in the Senate each name for members of the joint committee. This year, as happens every six years, all members of the Supreme Court stand for retention. Of course Justice Dooley is not up for retention having chosen to retire on March 31^st. But there are also 10 superior judges who want to continue in office. They are:

Hon. Alison Arms

Hon. Robert Bent

Hon. Thomas Carlson

Hon. Cortland Corsones

Hon. Thomas Devine

Hon. Theresa DiMauro

Hon. Michael Kainen

Hon. Mary Morrissey

Hon. Gregory Rainville

Hon. Kirstin Schoonover

This will be a busy year for the committee members who, in addition to their standing  committee, will have to interview and conduct public hearings on these fourteen judges.

I’ll end this update here but once again ask that if any of you have questions about bills or legislative process and/or want to discuss any issue please let me know.

Thanks for reading.