[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6256108,"mediaKeyId","3159655-11e179f699510a3311c1409c5c0c8d3c","parentId",3159655,"title","Deputy secretary of state seeks authority to charge for data feeds, plans APIs for licensing and business records","audioSeconds",442,"startMs",50000,"endMs",492000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3159655-11e179f699510a3311c1409c5c0c8d3c&start=50&end=492","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3159655-11e179f699510a3311c1409c5c0c8d3c/thumbnail_50000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6256108/Vermont/Deputy-secretary-of-state-seeks-authority-to-charge-for-data-feeds-plans-APIs-for-licensing-and-business-records","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6256108-3c59afeb300f9d08c9e9b4d61e50912e/orig.mp4?Expires=1776563492&Signature=iYb4R285W8ynhz9P8jp4xM0MYx0CrLC3PDpKmop4YUe8A4TzJS0kHUy6LflU2RyvsX9IiFmC4SeSFU3DXCXC3LoHHTPDpRD-P3nzIZWCASKKGzuaicbDlqBjeLeM9po4rfqN~NBGRONzI~aH4zdFBb5cw8If~3pE4p~~bKvM4uqbPMsCLwkPSE2YFxwWQQkkHVNqAFPBGXfvw3RJywoP~JpJwK0FA1I1HqpizcqTBwd0dpoiwq8mHO9~Z0ElD7ivJLs8~LTdWZ1IQGe3EIWlRdRCMVDfIuHVxOTaiAEZuhDAN8rHgDrwLsrOjd8frTzy5tOpzgzOE6xfTHafBBxf4w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Vermont House Energy and Digital Infrastructure","date","2025-04-30T08:05:06Z","article","Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Heather told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee that the Secretary of State’s Office is seeking explicit legislative authority to charge third parties for automated data feeds and to set a policy governing those charges.

Heather said the proposal is part of an Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) bill that would modify 3 VSA §118 to “give the Secretary of State the authority to collect and deposit into the Secretary of State services fund revenues generated from optional services,” including periodic sales of data by subscription or contract. “We are asking for authority to charge third party entities for data feeds,” she said.

Why it matters: several national associations and private firms now request regular, machine-readable extracts of Vermont’s licensing and business records. Heather said building and maintaining secure feeds is expensive, can require custom fields for different recipients, and carries long‑term maintenance costs. Allowing the office to recoup those costs by policy, she said, would let the state build application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide up‑to‑date data without manual bulk downloads.

The Secretary of State’s Office currently maintains five major public systems, Heather said: business services (including UCC filings), three elections systems, and the Office of Professional Regulation (licensing). The OPR now delivers secure file transfers (SFTP/FTPS) to five regular recipients (national physical therapy, accountancy and real estate boards, nursing data aggregators, and UVM), and the office plans APIs first for OPR and business services because those produce the most requests. Heather said recipients seek fields beyond what the public lookup pages expose — for example, education, exam results, basis of licensure, and discipline status — and that those fields already flow to national registries used by other states.

“We’ve interpreted it in the past as not having the authority to charge for that information,” Heather said. “That’s why we’re expressly asking the legislature for that authority so that we can create a policy.” She told committee members the office prefers a policy‑set fee rather than a fee fixed in statute because different recipients need different fields, formats, and update frequencies.

Heather described how recipients use the data: hospitals and health systems perform automated cross‑checks so staff with expired or disciplined licenses are not scheduled to work; national associations aggregate license data to build multi‑state registries; and title/finance sectors consume UCC bulk feeds. The office already provides a weekly bulk download for some business records, but an API would be “evergreen” and return the most current record at query time.

Heather outlined privacy and disclosure limits the office has applied internally: although public rosters can include email addresses under public records law, the office has withheld telephone numbers under a policy because they can be used to harass. She said S.48, the reproductive protections bill, contains a modification to the Public Records Act that would allow withholding telephone numbers and email addresses for licensees statewide; Heather said that change has moved well through the legislative process.

On security and agreements, Heather said the office already has written arrangements with the five OPR recipients and expects to include use‑limitations and security terms in any future data‑share policy. “I do think we should be able to ask how you’re going to use this data and have an agreement,” she said, noting that recipients who pay for a tailored API would be bound to those terms.

Heather told the committee the office does not build its systems in‑house; it works through contracted vendors and has planned APIs for some time, but the work is costly. She added the Vermont Records and Archives Administration participates early in system and contract planning to address retention and migration of digital records.

Next steps: Heather said the office intends to develop a stakeholder‑informed policy (not rulemaking) setting pricing and security requirements if the legislature grants the requested authority. No formal committee action or vote occurred during the hearing.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Energy and Digital Infrastructure 2025/04/29 3:00pm","oneSentenceSummary","Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Heather told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee that the Secretary of State’s Office is seeking explicit legislative authority to charge third parties for automated data feeds and to set a policy governing those charges.","taxTitle","Environment & Energy, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative , Vermont","taxId",30749,"location","Vermont","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6256104,"Secretary of state explains voter‑data exports, ERIC links and warns Save Act would impose new document burdens",766,1628000,2394000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3159655-11e179f699510a3311c1409c5c0c8d3c&start=1628&end=2394","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3159655-11e179f699510a3311c1409c5c0c8d3c/thumbnail_1628000.jpg","/articles/6256104/Vermont/Secretary-of-state-explains-voterdata-exports-ERIC-links-and-warns-Save-Act-would-impose-new-document-burdens","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6256104-99af74bd3c456313105ce3dd330e30f7/orig.mp4?Expires=1776563492&Signature=jOsp0z4CaFpdXh~IrCECOvJHCVrlnq58UbOw6erQO27uydX0kqWOdIy5c6qzSFx~~2S5RIpLWhAuWtIYApWTH~ZCpZwEkZfvsF8tZAJZfkwH~lGPw-tSGSx0g1IIx8fitFNkTmiJqihmUCHbqN0DoLx6gKMPhWNmWCkvvS38g7HvNYkztpU-AAwkxCiaH9pR0alrM-EeIFUVgYixUW74Y1WypbBvwynPS1~4RqmyNFKv~L1aImCNGHdOggJNbLue5vI7sD15lUCMEv9zZPw52ErUt64g3inp2VpRDd~hoaAAUvwcFLwgvYMbw4cJ0LC6kz-DpM2XgtzgUAxXMdh5CA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","At a House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee hearing, Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Heather described how Vermont shares voter data, the limits on exports of the statewide voter checklist, the state’s participation in ERIC, and potential effects of the federal \"Save Act\" if enacted.

Heather told the committee that the statewide voter‑checklist export is available on request but only after a requester signs an affidavit stating the data will be used for noncommercial purposes and will not be provided to foreign governments. “You can ask for that. You have to submit an affidavit that you’ll only use it for noncommercial purposes and will not disclose it to foreign governments,” she said.

She explained the distinction between an absentee ballot and a universal vote‑by‑mail ballot under Vermont law: absentee ballots are used when an election is otherwise conducted in person (for example, the presidential and statewide primaries), whereas the November general election is conducted under universal vote‑by‑mail. Heather said both the voter‑checklist export and absentee‑ballot reports are provided on demand and not posted publicly.

On interstate data sharing, Heather described Vermont’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which compares data across member states to identify voters who have moved or who appear in multiple states, and helps with death‑record comparisons. She also described the DMV’s role in automatic registration: registration data from DMV flows into the Secretary of State’s systems when an applicant attests to citizenship at DMV, but not when an applicant lacks proof of citizenship.

“We only get registrations from those who say they are a citizen and can prove they’re citizens at the DMV level,” Heather said. She noted the state issues enhanced driver’s licenses — which verify citizenship and can be used to cross the Canadian border — and that Real ID is different because Real ID can be issued based on lawful presence without showing citizenship.

Heather warned the committee that the Save Act, which she said had passed the House and was pending in the Senate, would require certified copies of birth certificates (and certified documents for any subsequent name changes) to verify citizenship. She said that would impose substantial burdens on voters who do not already hold passports or enhanced licenses and would require IT changes because the secretary of state’s office would have to accept and securely store certified documents.

“The Save Act has really big ramifications, for Vermont,” Heather said, noting the administrative and technical costs of storing certified copies and the uneven availability of standardized birth‑certificate formats across jurisdictions.

Heather also addressed security concerns around automated scraping and bot activity. She said the office receives many automated “pings” but has not identified a pattern of bot‑generated public records requests; public‑records requests are submitted through a form that requires detailed, handwritten‑style answers. For API requests, Heather said the office would seek agreements governing use and security from paying recipients.","Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Heather described how Vermont shares voter and DMV data, the affidavit requirement for voter‑checklist exports, ERIC and DMV data links, and said the proposed federal Save Act would require certified birth documents and costly IT changes to store them.","actionData","errors"]

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Deputy secretary of state seeks authority to charge for data feeds, plans APIs for licensing and business records

Secretary of state explains voter‑data exports, ERIC links and warns Save Act would impose new document burdens