ANA Statement on Passage of Vermont Privacy Law

May 13, 2024 — Chris Oswald, the ANA's EVP, Head of Law, Ethics, and Government Relations issued the below statement following the passage of Vermont's comprehensive privacy law, H. 121. 

"If signed into law, Vermont's privacy bill would be one of the most damaging in the nation, resulting in significant consumer harm, regulatory confusion, frivolous litigation, and economic injury to Vermont's small businesses. 

"Among the provisions of greatest concern in the bill is an unprecedented Private Right of Action that would foment a flood of feckless filings, driving up costs for Vermont residents and businesses while enriching unscrupulous out-of-state trial lawyers. Equally important, the law would make it difficult, if not impossible, for small and mid-sized Vermont businesses to find and reach potential customers using existing digital advertising platforms, hurting both individual businesses and the state's economy.  

"We plan to urge Governor Scott to reject this heavy-handed and destructive approach to privacy and send this bill back to the legislature to fix these significant issues."

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ABOUT THE ANA

The mission of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.