§ 902. Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission; establishment; organization

(a) There is created and established a body corporate and politic to be known as the Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission to carry out the provisions of this chapter. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is constituted a public instrumentality exercising public and essential government functions and the exercise by the Commission of the power conferred by this chapter shall be deemed and held to be the performance of an essential governmental function.

(b)(1) The Commission shall consist of three commissioners appointed pursuant to section 905 of this chapter and shall include one or more committees established by the commissioners to examine institutional, structural, and systemic discrimination caused or permitted by State laws and policies experienced by each of the following populations and communities in Vermont:

(A) individuals who identify as Native American or Indigenous;

(B) individuals with a physical, psychiatric, or mental condition or disability and the families of individuals with a physical, psychiatric, or mental condition or disability;

(C) Black individuals and other individuals of color;

(D) individuals with French Canadian, French-Indian, or other mixed ethnic or racial heritage; and

(E) in the commissioners’ discretion, other populations and communities that have experienced institutional, structural, and systemic discrimination caused or permitted by State laws and policies.

(2)(A) Each committee shall consist of the commissioners and members appointed by the commissioners in consultation with the populations and communities identified pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection (b).

(B) The commissioners shall ensure that the members of each committee shall be broadly representative of the populations and communities who are the subject of that committees’ work.

(C) The commissioners may appoint not more than 30 committee members in the aggregate across all of the committees established pursuant to subdivision 906(a)(1) of this chapter.

(D)(i) Except as otherwise provided pursuant to subdivision (ii) of this subdivision (2)(D), committee members shall be entitled to per diem compensation and reimbursement of expenses as permitted under 32 V.S.A. § 1010 for not more than eight meetings per calendar year. These payments shall be made from monies appropriated to the Commission.

(ii) The commissioners may authorize committee members to receive per diem compensation and reimbursement of expenses as permitted under 32 V.S.A. § 1010 for additional meetings in each calendar year. Payments for additional meetings shall be made from grants or additional funding received by the Commissioners pursuant to subdivision 906(b)(11) of this chapter. In no event shall the per diem compensation and reimbursement of expenses for any additional meetings exceed the amounts permitted pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 1010.

(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require the Commission to examine institutional, structural, and systemic discrimination experienced by the populations and communities identified in subdivision (1) of this subsection in isolation or separately from each other. (Added 2021, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 24, 2022; repealed on July 1, 2026 by 2021, No. 128 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)