Legislative Update 1-23-09

On Friday the Senate unanimously approved S. 13, a “Comprehensive Statewide Approach to the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.”

Few bills have been considered and approved so quickly. S. 13, 58 pages long, was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and voted out on Friday, Jan. 16. It came before the full Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 20. By Friday, Jan. 23, it had gone through three readings, been debated, amended, and approved, and was “messaged” (expedited) to the House. (The House had actually begun its review earlier in the week, even though the Senate hadn’t yet passed the bill.)

No testimony was taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee during its review except for testimony on “technical corrections.” The ACLU and others had given testimony to the committee this fall, but no bill had been drafted and made available to the public until Jan. 7.

Before the Senate floor debate this week, we sent each senator an information sheet (“8 Reasons to Question S. 13”) stating our objections to the bill. The objections are based on constitutional concerns; they do not include the financial impacts of S. 13’s proposed changes, since fiscal analysis is beyond the scope of our work.

However, we suggested it was important to ask whether the cost of the proposed measures would lead to commensurately better police work and greater safety for Vermonters. Costs of the bill are estimated to be at least $2.5 million; this doesn’t include training costs, the costs of incarcerating more offenders for longer periods of time, and the costs of a new crime lab.

We felt it was also important to note that S. 13 springs from a heinous crime against a child. Ninety percent of such crimes are perpetrated by family members or close acquaintances. These are people known to the victim and to others in the family -- an uncle or cousin, in other words, not a stranger.

We told the press that S. 13 seems to focus mainly on the 10 percent of crimes committed by strangers, not on the 90 percent committed by people known to the victim.

Here are some highlights of S. 13:

• Collection of DNA expanded; samples to be taken upon arraignment.
• Criminal procedure rules changed so defendant can’t depose accuser.
• Standards eased for substantiation of child sex abuse complaints.
• Accusations of child sexual abuse not proven at trial can be used against defendant in sentencing.
• Release from probation not assured, even if all conditions met.
• New charge with new mandatory minimum created for crime (aggravated sexual assault) that already exists.
• Expanded and ongoing background checks of school teachers, administrators, contractors, volunteers, and work-study students.

In addition to our “8 Reasons to Question S. 13” info sheet, view the testimony we submitted to the judiciary study committee this fall. Also, click here to read the bill as introduced.

Other legislative actions of interest::

• Our legislative resolutions (one in House, one in Senate) to call on President Obama to close Guantanamo, stop torture, and end extraordinary rendition were never acted on. Fortunately, President Obama issued orders on his first day in office to accomplish these things.
• The legislative cyber-bullying study committee gave a preliminary report on its work to the House Judiciary Committee. While there’s general agreement that bullying is pervasive at Vermont schools, there’s not agreement as to how far schools’ reach should be in disciplining students for out-of-school misconduct. The committee’s formal report is expected soon.
• E-medical records were discussed briefly in the House Health Care Committee. The state last year decided to levy a surcharge on health care insurance claims to yield up to $32 million to support the building of a state health information exchange network. The Obama administration is also pushing e-medical records as a way to improve health care and save money. Yet privacy and security standards have still not been developed to protect medical records privacy. Look for this issue to grow, especially as more money flows into the building of electronic infrastructure.