Secretary of State briefs Commerce & Economic Development committee on office modernization, Safe at Home, licensure reviews and voter outreach

Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas told the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on Jan. 14, 2025, that her office is continuing a multi‑year modernization of services — rolling out three new information systems, completing a Safe at Home portal, and pressing ahead on professional‑licensing reviews and civic outreach.

The briefing explained why the work matters to Vermont voters, survivors of domestic violence, licensed professionals and municipal officials: the office manages business and UCC filings, campaign finance and lobbyist disclosure, the voter checklist used by local clerks, professional licensure oversight and the state archives.

Hanzas said three of four major IT systems have been deployed: the business services registration system, the campaign finance system and the lobbying disclosure system. “We have rolled out at this point 3 of the 4 major programs,” she said. The remaining system, the Vermont election management system used by municipal clerks to maintain local checklists and input election results, is in its final build and will not be rolled out until after town meeting season; the office expects to deploy it in April.

Hanzas described the online voter guide the office produced for the 2024 general election as widely used: the office’s site logs showed about 50,000 Vermonters accessed the guide to look up candidates’ information. She said the office will seek legislative approval to send a paper voter guide to every household in 2026 to reach people who are not online.

On victim‑safety services, Hanzas said the Safe at Home address‑confidentiality program — long administered by the Secretary of State’s office — is being modernized to replace a paper application with an online portal. “We are building a portal that will allow us to more quickly and easily communicate with enrollees in the Safe at Home program,” she said. The office has been expanding outreach through domestic‑violence agencies, the Vermont Network, the Sheriffs Association and state’s attorneys to increase enrollment and to reach newly eligible groups, including certain providers and recipients of protected health care.

Deputy Secretary Lauren Hibbert reviewed the Office of Professional Regulation’s work. OPR currently oversees about 52 professions and roughly 80,000 licensees, she said, and uses sunrise/sunset reviews under Title 26, Chapter 57 to decide whether licensure is warranted. Hibbert said OPR published a sunrise report recommending certification for doulas and is preparing a sunrise report recommending licensure for early childhood educators; the office is proposing that any early‑childhood licensure be housed in OPR pending legislative action. On optometry, Hibbert said a supplemental sunrise report now supports a measured expansion of scope with additional training, exams and preceptorships for practitioners who did not graduate under newer curricula.

Hibbert described two regulation models OPR uses: a board model (for larger professions such as nursing, dentistry and veterinary medicine) in which members are appointed by the governor and include public members, and an adviser model in which the secretary appoints smaller advisor groups.

Tanya Marshall, Vermont State Archivist, outlined the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration’s role in records management and preservation. Marshall said the archives operate a climate‑controlled records center in Middlesex that houses permanent records including the original state constitution in a secure vault, and that VASARA issues retention schedules, operates a public records center and supports digitization and access.

Robin Falmer, director of civic and voter engagement, reviewed K–12 civics efforts, classroom resources and a Vermont Civic Health Index the office prepared with partners; Hanzas said the index will be released the following day and the office will hold public engagement sessions in libraries statewide to “ground truth” the data.

Committee members asked about program specifics: outreach for Safe at Home (Hanzas said the office coordinates with domestic violence agencies and will add links to Department of Labor resources), whether voter registration lists should be posted online (Hibbert said municipal clerks keep local checklists and some Vermonters object to publicizing names and addresses), and details on OPR board composition and disciplinary hearings (Hibbert described board sizes, appointment terms and hybrid meeting and recording requirements under the recently updated open meeting law).

Hanzas provided staffing counts: six staff (including director David Hall) in business services, six in elections (led by Sean Sheehan), about 40 in OPR (interim director Mike Warren; deputy Tara Grenier), 20 in VASARA (Archivist Tanya Marshall) and five in administrative services (led by Stacy Drinkwine). She told the committee the office will return with a legislative agenda during the session.

The presentation did not include any formal committee votes or motions.

The committee indicated it will invite agency division leaders back for follow‑up briefings on digitization of land records, records center tours and OPR workforce issues.