The Vermont House proposed to the Senate to amend S.23, an act addressing the use of synthetic media in elections, adopting an amendment to clarify that "synthetic media" includes images, audio and video. The bill requires a disclosure statement for deceptive or fraudulent synthetic media distributed within 90 days before an election and permits civil enforcement by the attorney general or a state's attorney.

The committee report and floor debate framed S.23 as a disclosure rule designed to preserve election integrity while protecting protected speech such as parody and satire. The committee explained the bill requires a clear disclosure when someone knowingly distributes synthetic media that is deceptive and intended to influence an election, with the disclosure wording specified in the bill: "This media has been created or intentionally manipulated by digital technology or artificial intelligence." The committee emphasized that the statutory standard requires knowledge (the person "knows") that the content is fraudulent or deceptive, noting that ordinary citizens who innocently share content would not be criminally liable under the bill as written.

Exemptions listed in the bill include news outlets acting in the course of reporting, telecommunication companies and internet service providers, paid political advertising channels as governed by other disclosure requirements, satire and parody, and certain other defined classes of publisher. The floor discussion included questions about whether entities that create such content for hire would bear responsibility for disclosure versus the person who pays to distribute it; the committee's answer was that the distributor or payer has responsibility to ensure required disclosures accompany paid distribution, while creators who produce the content may also be civilly liable depending on the facts.

Penalties in the bill begin with fines up to $1,000 for an initial violation, and escalate to $5,000 for content that incites physical violence or harm; repeat violations within five years carry increased penalties. The attorney general or a state's attorney may seek civil enforcement and investigative authority under the bill. The House amended the committee report to explicitly include images within the definition of deceptive synthetic media and then voted to propose to the Senate to amend the bill per the committee recommendation as amended. The House also ordered third reading of the bill on the floor.

Discussion versus decisions: the House has not criminalized creation of synthetic media broadly; the action on floor was to propose amendments to the Senate, adopt a clarifying amendment to include images, and order third reading.