Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Bill Advances to House Floor
Nearing a House floor vote, Vermont’s age-appropriate design code bill still looks “generally defensible” in court, said a Vermont attorney general office staffer at a House Commerce hearing Wednesday morning. Later that day, after amending S-69 with a longer implementation period, the committee voted 10-0 to advance the measure to the House floor.
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S-69 could appear on the House floor as soon as Friday, with a vote on the bill possible Tuesday, Rep. Monique Priestley (D) told Privacy Daily. Priestley authored the House version of the bill.
The committee previously amended the measure in response to a recent ruling in favor of the tech industry against California’s age-appropriate design code law (see 2505010013). "Yes, there's litigation risk here,” Todd Daloz, director of policy and legislative affairs in the Vermont AG office, said at the committee hearing Wednesday. “And -- it's really important to protect our children."
Daloz recommended giving the AG office 18 months to complete the rulemaking process to implement S-69, rather than the “pretty aggressive” 12-month timeframe in the current bill. Chair Michael Marcotte (R) agreed to 18 months and asked to move back the proposed law’s effective date to the same date as the rules deadline: Jan. 1, 2027.
The Vermont Senate passed S-69 in March (see 2503130040). If the House approves the bill, the Senate would have to vote again to concur with any changes the House makes. The bill would also then need a signature from Gov. Phil Scott (R), who vetoed a 2024 privacy bill that included a kids code.