Vermont committee hears split views on H.342 privacy bill, business impacts and private lawsuits

Montpelier — The House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development heard hours of testimony March 13 on H.342, a proposal to let “covered persons” such as judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement officers request nondisclosure of home addresses and phone numbers from commercial data brokers.

The bill’s stated aim is to reduce doxxing, harassment and threats against public servants. Supporters told the committee the measure would provide a practical safeguard; business and industry witnesses warned it could disrupt routine commerce unless the draft is narrowed or clarified.

Garrett Rogers, senior operations counsel with First American Title Insurance Company, told the committee that his company supports redaction laws in principle but asked for technical changes to make compliance workable. Rogers said title insurers and many lenders rely on third-party “real property data” aggregators and that unclear or incomplete takedown requests and short compliance windows have caused major operational problems in other states.

“We support redaction…