Vermont Rep. Priestley Says Slippery Slope 'Goes Both Ways'
Vermont Rep. Monique Priestley (D) defended her continued push for a private right of action (PRA) in comprehensive privacy legislation while speaking on Marketecture's Monopoly Report podcast Wednesday. Also, Priestley said she aims to respect donors’ privacy as she makes a run for state Senate in 2026 (see 2510290024).
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Priestley released a new draft of her comprehensive privacy bill in late May, ahead of planned summer talks (see 2505300047). It contained a private right of action and data-minimization requirements that have been controversial to industry.
Alan Chappel, a privacy lawyer and the podcast’s host, asked Priestley why she hasn’t followed other states’ privacy laws that leave enforcement to the attorney general alone.
"The AG doesn't represent people,” said Priestley. “The AG represents the state.” The Democrat added, "Our whole country -- we're able to sue for everything. So why ... are we making it different for digital tech policy?"
Priestley brushed off concerns that including even a limited PRA could lead to a "slippery slope,” where the legislature could expand the provision in a future year. The PRA in Priestley’s current bill only applies to companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue.
"It goes both ways," said the state rep. "Slippery slope for [legislators] might be that industry comes in and takes out a comma, and completely breaks a bill." Priestley added, "There's more lobbyists in our building than there are legislators, and they're paid full-time [while] we're paid 15 grand a year ... There is a power imbalance there."
Also on the podcast, Priestley said she is considering adding a "safe harbor" that would be a "lower burden impact assessment ... checklist for small businesses.” She doesn’t "know what that threshold's going to be, but it's definitely something that I'm hoping to work on for the session.”
Priestley said she’s not sure yet if she will push a separate bill from previous years that would update Vermont’s data broker registry in the mode of California’s Delete Act. The current plan is for Vermont to create a deletion mechanism like California's Delete Request and Opt-Out Platform (DROP), she said. Funded by registration fees, it could take “a couple of years” to build up the money to pay for the system.
For her Vermont Senate run, privacy drove Priestley's decision to use GoodChange rather than ActBlue as her donation platform, she said. "The biggest source of revenue for most political campaigns is selling people's data, and I'm not about that."