Committee weighs H639 genetic‑data privacy; Ancestry urges narrower biometric language and warns against private lawsuits

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee heard extended testimony on H639, the proposed genetic information privacy act, from corporate witnesses, privacy officers, criminal‑defense counsel and forensic staff. Ancestry witnesses described the company’s consumer protections, raised technical drafting concerns, and urged the committee to consider enforcement design carefully to avoid unintended consequences for consumers and for innovation.

Richie Agelhard (introduced by the committee as Ancestry’s witness) and a company representative who identified themselves in the record as Michelart described Ancestry’s long partnership with Vermont (digitizing public records and providing free access to certain collections) and said the company supports strong genetic‑privacy rules. They asked the committee to strike a broad definition of biometric data and instead use the narrower concept of “biological samples” for provisions specific to direct‑to‑consumer genetic testing. “We request that the committee strike the definition of biometric data in the bill and replace all references to biometric data with biological samples,” the witness told the committee, arguing that biometric language could fold…