Each year on July 1 a round of new laws takes effect. This year’s batch will affect Vermonters’ purchases ranging from concert tickets to cannabis. New laws will make it easier for residents to install plug-in solar panels and harder for people to get away with the crime of voyeurism. Also in the mix is yet another attempt to crack down on those oversize trucks still trying to traverse the forbidden Smugglers’ Notch stretch.
Here are seven new laws with immediate impact.
Ticket resale law
Strafford-born musician Noah Kahan shared prerecorded video testimony in support of the ticket resale law.
Vermont is the latest state to take aim at predatory ticket resale and ticket scalping.
This new law imposes stricter regulations on companies that purchase event tickets and resell them.
The law prevents third parties from reselling tickets at more than 10% over the original venue price. It also requires the original price be printed on tickets, and that resellers make it clear to customers that they’re purchasing the ticket from a third party — not the venue itself.
The law also bans deceptive URLs and selling tickets a vendor doesn’t yet have in their possession.
The policy got celebrity support from Strafford-born musician Noah Kahan, who shared prerecorded video testimony in support of the bill in the Senate Economic Development Committee in April.
Cannabis purchase limit
April McCullum
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Vermont Public
Cannabis retailers may now provide up to two ounces of flower, or the equivalent in cannabis products, in a single transaction.
Starting July 1, the daily amount of cannabis flower a person can buy will increase from one ounce to two ounces.
The main goal of this law is to encourage people who still buy their cannabis on the illicit market to shift over to the state’s legal retail marketplace.
The law also sets up a two-year pilot program that will allow a licensed retailer to sponsor a “public event” where customers can meet and buy state regulated products from local cultivators — something along the lines of a mini farmers market. Ten of these events will be held throughout the state.
The legislation also allows the state, at the governor’s discretion, to join an interstate regional cannabis compact if the federal government reschedules cannabis from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug. It’s a move that the Trump administration is considering.
Higher penalties in Smugglers’ Notch
Truck drivers that don’t pay attention to the size limits in Smugglers’ Notch will be paying ten times more in fines.
This law increases the fine to $10,000, up from $1,000, for oversize trucks illegally driving through the Notch. If the truck gets stuck and blocks traffic, the fine is increased to $20,000, up from $2,000.
Bottle bill updates
Burgess Brown
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Vermont Public
Sorting cans at Valley Redemption in Bradford.
This law adds a penny to the bottle and can handling fees that beverage manufacturers or distributors pay to redemption locations, the first increase in about two decades. That should ease the margins for redemption centers like the one recently featured in an episode of Brave Little State, but could also increase costs for consumers because handling fees could be passed along.
Later, the law will require beverage companies to join a “producer responsibility organization” to restructure Vermont’s redemption system.
More from Brave Little State: A day with Bradford’s bottle-sorting wiz
Voyeurism prosecution
Stricter penalties for crimes of voyeurism take effect July 1. The new law extends the time limits for prosecuting cases of voyeurism and nonconsensual release of sexually explicit images, changing the statute of limitations from three years to 40 years. It also adds harsher penalties when the victim is under 18.
The legislation was prompted by a Vermont Public story about a Burlington filmmaker who, according to a police investigation, secretly recorded two teenage girls undressing and posted the videos online. Police said they couldn’t charge Bill Simmon because the statute of limitations had passed.
Portable solar
Stephen Dotson
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Town of Brattleboro
Rupert Mayer of the solar advocacy group Bright Saver shows a balcony solar array at a pilot the nonprofit organized with the town of Brattleboro, Vermont, at the Tripark Housing Cooperative, a mobile home park.
Vermont is the eighth state to pass legislation allowing people to install portable plug-in solar panel — also called “balcony solar” — at their homes and businesses without getting permission from the Public Utility Commission or their electric utility.
Vermont’s law requires these systems be no larger than 1,200W and that they meet strict industry standards for safety, set by independent appliance reviewer UL Solutions. (There aren’t any plug-in solar systems on the market in the United States that meet these standards, but it’s expected they’ll be available soon.)
The law also requires a smart meter to prevent utilities from being charged for any power that goes back onto the grid.
Renters can access the technology, but they have to notify their landlords that they want to install the panels. Landlords have the right to require “reasonable” constraints, and to require tenants hire an electrician and pay for electrical upgrades. But if landlords don’t respond within 10 days, tenants can proceed without their permission.
More from Vermont Public: The push for smaller, cheaper plug-in solar panels gains momentum in New England
Emergency personnel survivor benefits
This law expands the list of Vermont emergency personnel for whom, if they die in the line of duty or as the result of an occupation-related illness, families can request survivor benefits. It is known as “Jessica’s Law” after Rutland City police officer-in-training Jessica Ebbighausen, who was killed in a high-speed chase in 2023.
The new qualifying categories are law enforcement officers, corrections officers, state family services employees, and medical employees of state-operated therapeutic community residences or inpatient psychiatric hospital units.
The law previously covered firefighters and emergency medical personnel.
