Vermont
AI Policy Overview
Vermont lawmakers have yet to prioritize artificial intelligence policies broadly. One area where Vermont lawmakers have made progress is in regulating facial regulation. Lawmakers placed a moratorium on law enforcement use of facial recognition technology in 2019. However, lawmakers enacted an exception in 2021 that allows police to use facial recognition technology when investigating child sexual exploitation.
Facial Recognition
In 2019, lawmakers in Vermont enacted a law (VT SB 124) that issued a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement officers. However, lawmakers made an exception to that moratorium when legislators enacted a law (VT HB 195) in 2019 allowing police to use facial recognition technology during a criminal investigation into the sexual exploitation of children. The law states that facial recognition technology can only be used where police are in possession of an image they believe to show a victim or suspect of child sexual exploitation and the search is limited to locating images, including videos, of that individual within electronic media legally seized by law enforcement in relation to the specific investigation.