---
type: "Bill"
title: "An act relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard"
description: "An act relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard"
jurisdiction: "us/states/vt"
legislature: "Vermont General Assembly"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "H. 589"
citation: "Vermont H. 589 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ann Pugh", "Janssen Willhoit", "Maxine Grad"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2018-01-09"
last_action: "2018-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/42600d9c-c74f-467d-aef7-02a64dce4b43"
source_url: "http://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/loadBillDetailedStatus/2018/2027"
source_hash: "bb76d139dfc6f7ef93eb42e148870ae41938e269e4424a258593f271168f2f71"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-vt"]
---

# Vermont H. 589 (2017-2018) — An act relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/BILLS/H-0589/H-0589%20As%20Introduced.pdf)
2. **Act Summary** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/ACTS/ACT106/ACT106%20Act%20Summary.pdf)
3. **As Enacted** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/ACTS/ACT106/ACT106%20As%20Enacted.pdf)
4. **Official** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/BILLS/H-0589/H-0589%20As%20passed%20by%20the%20House%20Official.pdf)
5. **Unofficial** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2018/Docs/BILLS/H-0589/H-0589%20As%20Passed%20by%20the%20House%20Unofficial.pdf)

## Sponsors

- Ann Pugh — primary (person)
- Janssen Willhoit — primary (person)
- Maxine Grad — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-01-09** Read First Time and Referred to the Committee on Human Services
- **2018-01-19** Rep. Pugh of South Burlington moved to suspend rules and take up bill for immediate consideration
- **2018-01-19** Rep. Pugh of South Burlington moved to commit bill to the committee on Judiciary which was agreed to.
- **2018-02-06** Read Second Time
- **2018-02-06** Rep. Troiano of Stannard reported for the committee on Human Services
- **2018-02-06** Rep. Willhoit of St. Johnsbury reported for the committee on Judiciary
- **2018-02-06** Recommendation of Amendment of the Committee on Judiciary agreed to
- **2018-02-06** Third Reading Ordered
- **2018-02-07** Read Third time
- **2018-02-07** Passed `passage`
- **2018-02-09** Read 1st time & referred to Committee on Judiciary `introduction`
- **2018-03-21** Committee on Judiciary relieved; bill committed to Committee on Health and Welfare on motion of Senator Sears
- **2018-04-03** Entered on Notice Calendar
- **2018-04-03** Favorable report by Committee on Health and Welfare
- **2018-04-04** New Business/Second Reading
- **2018-04-04** Favorable report by Committee on Health and Welfare
- **2018-04-04** Reported favorably by Senator Ingram for Committee on Health and Welfare, read 2nd time and 3rd reading ordered `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-05** New Business/Third Reading
- **2018-04-05** Read 3rd time & passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-04-06** Senate Message, Passed in Concurrence `passage`
- **2018-04-20** Signed by Governor on April 20, 2018 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/42600d9c-c74f-467d-aef7-02a64dce4b43`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Vermont legislature records).