Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
A Senate panel got its first look at a proposed bill that would expand the authority of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office to investigate bias-motivated incidents and establish a working group to create a uniform reporting system for such incidents for law enforcement.
The proposed legislation follows a press conference last month by Attorney General TJ Donovan where he said he would not be filing criminal charges following an investigation into racial harassment of former state Rep. Kiah Morris.
Morris, a Democrat from Bennington and the first African-American woman in the Vermont Legislature, opted not to seek re-election last year, citing the racial harassment.
Donovan, following an investigation, said while the evidence showed that Morris was the victim of racial harassment, there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, largely due to free speech protections in the First Amendment.
The Senate Judiciary Committee took no action Thursday on the proposed legislation, titled,
“An act relating to hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents,” which has yet to be formally introduced and remains in preliminary stages.
Committee members did raise several questions that still need to be addressed in the measure, including trying to define more specifically what bias-motivated incidents are, and who would be on the working group to help come up with that definition as well as the reporting system.
The proposed working group consists of a representative from six law enforcement groups, including the state Department of Public Safety, the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
Chloe White, policy director for the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said while her organization supports the intent of the legislation, she called on the Senate panel to expand the working group.
“We urge the committee to add other, non-law enforcement members to this body to ensure that the group is inclusive of different views and perspectives,” she said during her testimony Thursday.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the committee chair, said after the hearing that he was open to expanding the working group to allow for representation outside of law enforcement, calling the proposal currently under review only a “draft.”
Donovan came under sharp criticism specifically for not prosecuting Max Misch, a white nationalist in Bennington, for his racist online harassment of Morris.
Last week, Donovan’s office did charge Misch with possessing large-capacity magazines outlawed by a firearms law that went into effect last year.
At the hearing Thursday, Donovan spoke of a proposed bill his office has worked on with Sens. Sears and Brian Campion, both Democrats from Bennington.
The proposed bill’s provisions include:
— expanding the Vermont Attorney General’s Office authority to investigate bias-motivated incidents and enforce civil penalties.
— establishing a working group to create a uniform system for law enforcement for the reporting of bias-motivated incidents.
— setting require minimum training standards for law enforcement officers to include trainings on hate crimes and bias incidents;
— requiring the attorney general’s office to report annually to the Legislature on hate crimes and bias incidents.
“My office is committed to investigating issues of hate, but there’s not going to be a single solution to the issue of racism, to sexism, to homophobia, to anti-semitism,” Donovan told the committee Thursday. “There are limits to what the criminal justice and civil systems can do.”
Donovan added, “We can’t arrest or sue our way to a just, more respectful society … We have work to do in our communities.”
The legislation specially calls for allowing the attorney general’s office or a state’s attorney to investigate alleged hate or bias-motivated incidents for civil violations by having the same “investigation methods and standards” permitted by law for suspected unfair commerce acts.
That would allow investigators to issue a “civil investigative demand,” Julio Thompson, head of the attorney general’s civil rights division, told the committee. That may include having a person served with such a demand providing to investigators such information as records or testimony through a deposition, Thompson said.
“We use that on a daily basis in employment discrimination cases,” he said. “We can use that discovery tool if the racial harassment occurred in the workplace, but if the racial harassment occurred in the public we wouldn’t have the same authority.”
He added of the proposed legislation: “This kind of fills the gap.”
If a person is unwilling to provide information sought in such a demand letter, Thompson said, investigators would have to go to court and show a judge that “this evidence is necessary” based on other information already gathered.
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“It’s not a license to go on a fishing expedition,” Thompson said.
The committee also heard Thursday from various officials representing law enforcement groups and associations, voicing support for the legislation, but adding, that in some case, more work is needed to help define terms like “bias incidents” before requiring the training to address it.
Committee members talked about having the proposed working group delve into those definitions before mandating that training.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Senate committee tackles bill aimed at bias-based violations.