By VDC staff
The Vermont legislature is tackling the growing online threat of sextortion. H.626 has been introduced by Representative Angela Arsenault (D-Chittenden 2) to the House Committee on Judiciary that aims to criminalize sextortion and to extend the statute of limitation on Vermont’s voyeurism laws. The Committee met on January 22nd to receive a walkthrough of the bill and to hear witness testimony from advocates, including law enforcement.
Information for In Committee news reports are sourced from GoldenDomeVt.com and the General Assembly website.
Sextortion is a form of electronic blackmail where someone threatens to distribute nude or otherwise explicit images or videos in exchange for money or other favors. Reports of sextortion have skyrocketed in recent years as younger generations spend more time online. A 2022 Pew Research survey showed 95% of teenagers have access to digital devices, and 46% of teenagers say they use the internet almost constantly throughout the day. While sextortion primarily targets teenage boys, there are also reports of sextortion occurring in domestic abuse cases in adults.
FBI data reports that from 2021 to 2023, over 13,000 reports of sextortion have been filed and at least 20 suicides resulted from these online threats. Other sources suggest that the problem is even larger, with the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children releasing data on 26,718 filed reports of online sextortion from 2023 alone.
According to the FBI, financially motivated scammers that target children are coming primarily from outside of the United States—primarily in African countries including Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, or Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines.
Similar bills to H.626 have been passed in other states, notably “Gavin’s Law” that passed in South Carolina in 2023 after the son of a state representative committed suicide at the age of 17 due to online sextortion. Among the witnesses that testified in committee on January 22nd was Mary Roadie, whose son Riley committed suicide at the age of 15 in 2021 as the result of sextortion. You can read Riley’s story here.
Innovative rental & duplex ideas proposed
Bringing rental units back online and expanding homeowner options are being discussed in the statehouse this year. The House Committee on General & Housing met January 22nd and Representative Debroah Dolgin (R-Caledonia-Essex) introduced her bill, H.688, to streamline the rental eviction process.
Rep. Dolgin explained that under current laws governing landlord/tenat relationships, it is cost-prohibitive for landlords to rent their properties—and rental units are being taken off the market as a result.
As she explains, “H.688 is a bill intended to support both renters and landlords by streamlining the eviction process in cases of non-payment of rent, lease violations and criminal activity…This bill does not change the fundamental rights or responsibilities of tenants or landlords. Instead, it provides protection for landlords when tenants abuse lease agreements…”
Another bill introduced to the committee seeks to tackle housing unaffordability in a unique way. Representative Chloe Tomlinson (D-Chittenden 21) introduced her new bill, H.667, that directs the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide information and resources on establishing collective homeownership including, organization, governance, and conflict resolution.
Rep. Tomlinson explains that the driving force behind the bill is a novel and trendy style of homeownership that has emerged for families and friends. Groups join together to jointly raise the funds for co-purchasing duplexes or other properties, that would otherwise be out of their price range, to live communally.
In addition to Rep. Dolgin and Rep. Tomlinson, multiple other House members have housing related bills for introduction in the coming weeks.
Backyard farming faces municipal challenges
Should you be able to garden in your own backyard? The Vermont House Committee on Agriculture seems to think so. The House Committee met January 22nd to continue its multi-day exploration of municipal agriculture zoning exemptions and heard testimony from multiple farmers and agriculture advocates.
This exploration follows a controversial ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court in May of 2025 that changed the statewide interpretation of how landowners can practice agriculture on their property within municipalities with zoning regulations. Prior to the ruling, the standard interpretation of the law gave agricultural activities—gardening, raising livestock, and tapping maple trees—exemptions from zoning regulations. With the ruling, the door is open for towns to enact regulations to restrict agriculture.
The Supreme Court ruling in May 2025 came on the heels of a historic win for Vermont agriculture when in June 2025 the legislature passed the so-called, “Right to Farm” bill S.45, introduced by Fmr. Senator Samuel Douglass (R-Orleans), that gave agriculture operators protection from nuisance lawsuits. Lawsuits of that nature could include noise or smells from agriculture.
The May ruling by the court has left operators and advocates scrambling to the statehouse to find a solution. As part of a longer testimony an advocate from the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont outlined the priorities of a large coalition of agriculture advocates.
“…We’re hopeful that there’s an opportunity for a path forward on this issue that will work for everyone, and most importantly, that will ensure a consistent regulatory framework for farmers and the right to grow food for everyone living in Vermont, all in service to our collective food security. My intention today is to show the overarching principles and goals our coalition has agreed upon in advocating for a legislative fix to the Supreme Court’s decision last May and to present some proposed language that we’ve worked on together…”
“…We seek to clearly define the municipal exemption for agriculture in Title 24 without substantively changing how it has been implemented and understood for decades by farmers, municipalities, and communities. Finally, we are seeking and have proposed language that would establish a right to grow food so that bylaws now or in the future cannot prohibit food growing practices. Affirming and protecting the right to grow food throughout all types of development: rural, urban, growth centers, etcetera, is critical to ensure equitable access to farming and food resiliency for all Vermonters ….”