Vermont committee reviews amended S.69 narrowing data rules for minors, setting rulemaking deadlines

The Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development reviewed draft 1.3 of S.69 on April 30, hearing a line-by-line presentation from legislative counsel about changes to an age-appropriate design code for online services used by minors. Rich Stable of the Office of Legislative Council walked members through additions, deletions and wording changes in the bill and explained how the revisions reflect legal and implementation concerns.

The committee heard that the bill now defines an "age range"—"either an interval with an upper and lower age limit or a label indicating age above or below a specific age"—to give covered businesses flexibility when determining whether a user is a covered minor. "This definition comes in later in the bill talking about how companies can determine the age of their users, and this bill allows companies to create these age ranges," Rich Stable said.

The change matters because it affects what personal data companies may collect and retain while doing "age assurance." The draft removes several previously defined categories the drafters labeled "sensitive data," including neural data and precise geolocation, and…