House Judiciary reviews S.28 changes to shield protections for reproductive and gender‑affirming care

Montpelier, Vt. — The House Judiciary Committee on April 16 took an initial, in‑depth look at S.28, "an act relating to access to certain legally protected health care services," a bill that would amend Vermont's existing shield laws governing reproductive and gender‑affirming health care.

"This is S.28, an act relating to access to certain legally protected health care services," said Jen Harvey, legislative counsel, as she outlined the bill and identified four sections the committee would focus on in Judiciary: sections 1, 5, 6 and 13.

The bill would do four things the committee examined: (1) add limited reciprocity so protections for "legally protected health care activity" can attach to actions previously taken in another U.S. jurisdiction if those actions were lawful there (section 1); (2) extend and clarify the statute that directs state actors not to cooperate with certain out‑of‑state and federal investigations (section 5); (3) restrict disclosure of identifiable protected health information for legally protected health care activity in certain out‑of‑state investigatory contexts while preserving enumerated exceptions (section 6); and (4) allow redaction of prescriber and pharmacist names from labels on fulfilled prescriptions for noncontrolled medications and provide narrow immunities for good‑faith redaction efforts (section 13).

Why it matters: supporters and legislative counsel said the changes are meant to close gaps that have appeared since the 2023 "shield" laws were enacted and to reduce the risk that identifiable provider or patient information would be used to pursue civil, administrative or criminal liability in jurisdictions where the underlying care is not protected.…