An act relating to a hearsay exception for a child under 16 years of age
H.5 amends Vermont Rule 804a of the Vermont Rules of Evidence to expand a hearsay exception for certain vulnerable witnesses. Under current law, the rule applies to statements made by a child under 12, or by a person with a mental illness or intellectual or developmental disability, when the statements concern specified sexual offenses, abuse, neglect, exploitation, or related delinquent acts. This bill extends that protection to children under 16, allowing statements by 13- to 15-year-olds to qualify if the court finds the statements meet the rule’s requirements.
The bill keeps the existing safeguards in place. The statements must be offered in a qualifying civil, criminal, administrative, juvenile, or child-in-need-of-care proceeding; they must not have been made in preparation for litigation; the child or person must be available to testify; and the court must find substantial indicia of trustworthiness. In criminal or delinquency cases, either party may move to require the child or person to testify for the state. The bill is set to take effect on July 1, 2026, despite an apparent drafting reference to July 1, 2025 in the text.
The bill would broaden an evidentiary exception in the Vermont Rules of Evidence, making more out-of-court statements by older child victims admissible in proceedings involving sexual assault, child abuse, neglect, exploitation, and related offenses. It would affect prosecutors, defense counsel, courts, child protection proceedings, and cases involving vulnerable witnesses by allowing courts to admit statements from children ages 13 to 15 under the same trustworthiness and availability standards that already apply to younger children and certain adults with disabilities.
The available record shows no committee transcript, recorded vote, or other formal debate, so there is no documented split in the materials provided. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed as a protective, victim-centered evidentiary reform intended to help cases involving child abuse and sexual offenses. The absence of recorded opposition or amendments in the provided context suggests the bill may have been noncontroversial or at least not heavily debated in the available materials.
The main policy issue is the balance between helping child victims and preserving defendants’ confrontation and due process interests. Supporters would likely favor expanding admissibility for statements from 13- to 15-year-old victims in sensitive abuse and sexual offense cases, while critics could argue that extending the hearsay exception increases the risk of unreliable evidence and broadens exceptions to live testimony. Another point of possible concern is the bill’s internal effective-date inconsistency, which lists both July 1, 2025 and July 1, 2026, though the stated effective date appears to be July 1, 2026.