Last week we wrapped up Week 3 of the legislative session. The House introduced 58 new bills, bringing the total to 774 bills so far this biennium.
One of those was a bill I sponsored, H.735 – An act relating to the issuance of temporary licenses for incapacitation of real estate brokers. Under current law, a temporary license can be issued if a broker passes away, but the statute doesn’t address situations where a broker becomes incapacitated—such as suffering a stroke or being involved in a serious accident that leaves them unable to work for months. This bill simply closes that gap and makes sure all scenarios are covered.
I have one more bill of my own in the pipeline, dealing with allowing sellers to disclose that they have not lived on a property in order to fulfill the mandatory flood disclosure requirement. I expect that bill to be assigned to its committee of jurisdiction sometime next week.
We also had our first roll call vote of the session on H.545, which relates to allowing the Commissioner of Health to determine recommended immunizations. The bill requires health insurance providers to cover those immunizations and provides certain legal protections for medical professionals administering them. After reviewing the bill closely, I voted yes. It does not mandate that anyone receive a vaccine, it does not shield providers from lawsuits related to negligence, and it does not change existing informed consent laws.
In committee, we did what I refer to as “bill speed dating.” This is where we meet with sponsors of bills that have been referred to our committee, hear their proposals, and begin prioritizing which ones we’ll take up. My own bill, H.525 on glass coverage, was part of that process—and I’ll admit, being in the hot seat was a bit nerve-wracking.
We also spent time discussing artificial intelligence and the impact of the recent executive order. The short version: it doesn’t affect any of our active AI-related bills. Vermont isn’t trying to prevent AI development; we’re focused on reasonable guardrails around children, data privacy, and consumer protection—all areas allowed under the executive order.
Looking ahead, this week we’ll be tackling some important issues. We’ll take a deeper dive into coerced debt and non-compete agreements, continue work on data privacy, and explore ways to help alleviate the housing crisis. We’ll also begin addressing something that’s long overdue: regulation around event ticketing. If you’ve ever gone online to buy tickets and thought, “Why are these so expensive?”—you’re probably right. Excessive fees don’t just hurt consumers; they also hurt venues and performers. We’re hoping to put a stop to that.
