By Guy Page
CORRECTION: The party affiliation and committee assignment of Rep. Headrick was misidentified in an earlier edition. We regret the error. – Editor
A bill introduced into the Vermont House would prohibit “discrimination based on an individual’s criminal history in employment and the rental or sale of housing.”
H.201, sponsored by Rep. Troy Headrick (D-Burlington) and Reps. Kevin Christie (D-Hartford), Barbara Rachelson (D-Burlington), would expand the list of ‘protected’ groups against housing and employment discrimination to include criminal history.
Headrick is an independent on the House Corrections and Institutions Committee. Christie and Rachelson are members of the House Judiciary Committee, which would be the first committee to discuss the bill.
The bill adds another class to anti-discrimination language now in current law: “It shall be unlawful employment practice, except where a bona fide occupational qualification requires individuals of a particular race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, place of birth, age, crime victim status, criminal history, or physical or mental condition.”
VDC asked lead sponsor Headrick whether registered sex offenders would be protected from housing and employment discrimination. He said the bill, which was just released for introduction, requires more study and discussion before answers to specific questions like that become known.
High-capacity, gender-neutral school bathrooms – Another bill co-sponsored by Headrick would require school districts receiving state funding to add high-capacity, gender-neutral school bathrooms to new school creation. H.194 would “require that any nonemergency school construction project receiving State aid include the creation of a high-capacity, gender-neutral restroom.”
It is unclear whether this plan would require a third bathroom in addition to gender-specific bathrooms. The other sponsors are Reps. Emily Carris-Duncan, Ela Chapin, Kate Logan, Kate McCann, Brian Minier.
It’s also unclear whether these bills will ever “come off the wall” for discussion and committee vote. However, another vote is up for a vote by the full House today….
Mutiliation, sex abuse of corpse bill goes to House – H.41, inspired by the murder and corpse mutilation and sex abuse of an elderly Enosburgh woman last year, goes to the House floor today.
Sponsored by House Judiciary Vice-chair Tom Burditt (R-West Rutland) and Enosburg Rep. Allen “ Penny” Demar (-R-), H.41 is supported by the family of an elderly Enosburg woman brutally murdered in a home invasion last July. Roberta Martin, 82, was murdered by a neighbor and her body burned outdoors, police say. Darren Martell, of St. Albans and 23 when the crime was committed, is charged with aggravated murder, punishable by up to life imprisonment without parole.
The bill creates two levels of the felony: abuse of a corpse, and aggravated abuse of a corpse.