An act relating to miscellaneous judiciary procedures
What changed between versions
A new subsection (f) was added to 13 V.S.A. section 4816, governing how competency examination reports are introduced as evidence. It clarifies that introducing a report does not prevent either party or the court from calling the examining psychiatrist or psychologist as a witness, specifies that competency witnesses are at the State's expense (or the court's expense if called by the court), and permits the report author to testify remotely.
Section 12 was expanded from amending only subsection (c) of 13 V.S.A. section 7282 to amending the entire section, which includes a detailed surcharge schedule. The allocations were reduced for certain time periods: for offenses committed 2009-2013, the Victims Compensation Special Fund share was reduced from $27.50 to $23.75 and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Special Fund share was reduced from $13.50 to $10.00; similar reductions apply to the 2013-2023 period ($33.50 to $29.75 and $13.50 to $10.00). A new tier for offenses after June 30, 2023 sets the surcharge at $47.00 total with $33.50 to Victims Compensation and $13.50 to Domestic and Sexual Violence.
The bill was renumbered from H.878 to Public Act No. 161, page count increased from 46 to 53 due to formatting changes, the statement of purpose and committee introduction lines were removed, and standard enacted-version headers and tracking numbers (VT LEG #377826) were added throughout.