Committee accepts friendly amendment to S.23 expanding synthetic‑media election disclosure trigger

The Senate Government Operations committee on March 19 accepted a friendly amendment to S.23, a bill addressing synthetic media and election disclosures, to broaden the statute's trigger so the disclosure requirement applies to any election in Vermont within 90 days.

Senator Keishrawn Hinsdale, sponsor of the amendment, said the intent was to ensure language that prevents deceptive synthetic imagery from being used to mislead voters extends beyond depictions of individual candidates. Senator White gave as an example an altered image related to an issue on the ballot and said the original draft's candidate‑focused trigger could miss those cases.

Rick Segal of the Office of Legislative Council outlined the discrepancy the amendment addresses: the bill's definitions treated deceptive synthetic media broadly, but the disclosure provision originally referenced a candidate appearing on the ballot within 90 days. Segal explained that created a mismatch between the definition and the timing trigger.

The amendment removed the candidate‑specific trigger and replaced it with wording that applies the disclosure requirement to synthetic media "within 90 days before an election in Vermont," read into the record during the hearing. After discussion the committee accepted the change by voice vote; a committee member reported the vote as "5-0."

Committee members said the change was intended to close a drafting gap so the bill would capture deceptive synthetic media used to influence votes on issues as well as races. The sponsors characterized the change as responsive to concerns raised on the floor and said they would report the amendment when the bill proceeds.

The committee moved on to other business after adopting the friendly amendment.