Vermont Senate fails to override veto on key privacy bill

Montpelier, Vermont — The Vermont Senate voted 15-14 today to sustain Governor Scott’s veto on a groundbreaking privacy bill. The bill included several novel provisions that would have made it one of the strongest state laws in the country. The bill also included baseline consumer rights, such as the right to access, delete, and stop the sale of their personal information. CR worked with lawmakers throughout the session to improve the legislation, including by requiring data minimization standards and a private right of action that would have allowed consumers to sue large companies when they violated the law. Earlier today, the Vermont House voted 128-17 in favor of overriding the Governor’s veto.

“While we are disappointed that this marks the end of the road for privacy legislation during this session, it by no means marks the end of the fight for strong privacy protections for Vermonters,” said Matt Schwartz, policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “Ultimately, industry feared this legislation and worked so hard to kill it because it had real teeth to prevent their harmful data practices. Luckily, Vermont has a strong champion for consumer privacy in Representative Priestley. We hope to continue to work with her to educate stakeholders about the importance of this issue and why consumers deserve the ability to hold big tech companies accountable when they misuse their data.”

Five states have passed privacy laws this year, including New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Maryland.

Contact: Cyrus Rassool, cyrus.rassool@consumer.org