The governor of Vermont vetoed a broad data privacy law This would have been one of the country’s strongest crackdowns on companies’ use of personal data online, allowing consumers to file civil lawsuits against companies that violate certain privacy rules.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott said in his veto message Thursday that the legislation would have made Vermont “an outlier and more hostile than any other state to many businesses and nonprofits.”
“I understand that this provision is limited in its impact, but it will still have a negative impact on medium-sized employers and is generating significant fear and concern among many small businesses,” he wrote.
The legislation would have banned the sale of sensitive data such as social security and driver’s license numbers, as well as financial information and health data. It would also have set significant limits on how much personal data companies can collect and use, according to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Electronic Privacy Clearinghouse.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature plans to override the governor’s veto when it meets for a special session on Monday. The project was approved by 139 votes to 3 in the Chamber and a flurry of amendments were made in the last days of the session.
“Our collective efforts have produced legislation that not only reflects our commitment to consumer protection against fraud and identity theft, but also sets a standard for the nation,” House Speaker Jill Krowinski, a Democrat, said in a statement . “It is unfortunate that so much misinformation has been spread about this bill, but we know that Big Tech and its deep pockets fear that they will no longer have unfettered access to Vermonters’ personal information.”
More than a dozen states have comprehensive data privacy laws. When the Vermont legislature passed the bill, Caitriona Fitzgerald, deputy director of EPIC, said the legislation was “among the strongest, if not the strongest” in the country. EPIC is urging the Legislature to override the governor’s veto.
“The Vermont Data Privacy Act would have provided Vermonters with significant privacy rights that other state laws lack, and it would have rightly provided them with the opportunity to enforce those rights,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Scott said he also had concerns about the provision aimed at protecting children, saying similar legislation in California “has already been stopped by the courts for likely First Amendment violations” and that the state should await the outcome of that case.
The Vermont Kids Code Coalition said the legislation is different from California’s and is constitutionally sound.
Much of the legislation would have come into effect in 2025. Consumers’ ability to sue would have come into force in 2027 and expired in 2029, with a study to analyze its effectiveness and risks.
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