House lawmakers moving along Restorative Justice reforms, $1.7 million for EV chargers, new penalties for retail theft and more

By Michael Bielawski

The Vermont House Chamber was busy last week working to get bills voted out before the cross-over deadline. Bills that don’t cross from the Senate to the House or vice-versa by the mid-March deadline become unlikely to see further progress this year.

Restorative Justice

One such bill is H. 645, “relating to the expansion of approaches to restorative justice.” Rep. Karen Dolan, D-Essex Junction, and others sponsor it . A week ago Wednesday, it was sent from the House chamber to the House Committee on Appropriations.

The bill states its purpose is “to create pre-charge and post-charge diversion programs under the administration of the Community Justice Unit of the Office of Attorney General, and in consultation with the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, for certain eligible offenses and persons.”

The bill states that what constitutes an “eligible offense” to be accepted into the program is still being determined. It states that a “post-adjudication reparative program under the administration of the Department of Corrections, in consultation with the Judiciary, governed by memoranda of understanding that are required to outline eligible offenses, a process to supplement eligible offenses, evidence-based screening procedures, and confidentiality provisions.”

The bill focuses on juveniles. Vermont is struggling to find a place for young people accused of violent crimes can be held since the closing of Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in 2020. This makes restorative justice the only apparent option for many juvenile offenders.

The bill states, “The program shall be designed to provide a restorative option for juveniles alleged to have caused harm in violation of a criminal statute or who have been charged with violating a criminal statute as well as for victims or those acting on a victim’s behalf who have been allegedly harmed by the responsible party.”

$1.7 million for EV chargers

Concerning transportation policy, H. 868 was introduced and sent from the House Chamber to the Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. The House Committee on Transportation sponsors it.

The bill states that “the Agency shall distribute $1,700,000.00 in one-time Transportation Fund monies to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the purpose of providing grants to increase Vermonters’ access to level 1 and 2 EVSE charging ports at workplaces or multiunit dwellings, or both.”

The state is currently facing a major shortage of EV chargers if it is to meet its green energy targets as mandated by the Global Warming Solutions Act. Political observer Rob Roper wrote in January that as of October 2023, there were just under 11,000 plug-in EVs registered in Vermont. 

Roper notes that “meeting state emissions goals for the transportation sector would require that there be about 27,000 plug-in EVs registered in Vermont by 2025 (including plug-in hybrids) and 126,000 by 2030.” Roper called the prospects of meeting that goal “totally unrealistic.”

He further called all the state and federal subsidies for EVs and their associated hardware as “grotesquely regressive.” This includes $12 billion in federal money straight to the manufacturers.

Roper wrote, “That’s all money transferred from hard-working Vermonters’ bank accounts to a politically favored class of drivers – who are by and large wealthier than those paying the bills.”

Retail thefts

Also on Friday H. 579 dealing with aggregate retail thefts was voted out of the House Committee on Judiciary to the House floor.

This bill is intended to “create the crimes of organized retail theft, aggravated retail theft, and retail theft with the intent to resell.”

It states that for retail thefts someone can be “punished by a fine of not more than $2,500.00 or imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both, if the aggregate retail value of the merchandise taken away exceeds $900.00.”

It also states the penalties for those who steal less than $900 in goods. It states that those offenders would be “punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than three years, or both, if the aggregate retail value of the merchandise taken away is $900.00 or less.”

Vermont’s retail crime wave and its efforts to fix it are garnering headlines on national news sites. On Davidsonian.com on Monday they reported on some of the latest developments including testimony by the Berlin Police Chief, whose officers are constantly responding to complaints of retail theft at the town’s shopping malls.

It states, “Berlin Police Chief James Pontbriand emphasized the persistent challenge posed by repeat offenders, describing a scenario where individuals cited for theft often resume their criminal activities shortly afterward, fueling a cycle of crime. Pontbriand attributed a significant portion of these thefts to substance abuse issues, indicating a pattern where stolen merchandise is exchanged for drugs or money to procure drugs.”

The writer is an author for the Vermont Daily Chronicle