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

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…