A bill that began as an effort to curb threats of violence against social workers is on track to go back to the Senate in a new form.
The House approved a bill Thursday that enhances criminal penalties for assaulting social workers from the Department for Children and Families. But the bill, S.154, now has several key changes from the version that passed the Senate last month.
It has been stripped of a section that created a criminal penalty for making threats. It also now contains the entirety of H.818, a bill that clarifies and streamlines the process for getting civil protection orders for stalking victims.
Rep. Barbara Rachelson, D-Burlington, reported the bill on the floor.
The House Judiciary Committee removed the provision that created a penalty of up to $1,000 and a year in prison for threats that meet certain criteria. According to Rachelson, the committee acted after hearing testimony from several sources, including some opinions that it would be redundant with current law.
The committee did retain language that creates an enhanced penalty for assaulting a social worker, as with assaults on law enforcement officers.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said he plans to ask for a conference committee on the bill in order to resume discussion of the criminal threatening proposal.
Sears said his committee had not had time to take up the stalking bill.
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