Vermont
Does Vermont Have an Age Verification Law? (2026)
Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited August 14, 2026). · 3 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content
Vermont has no enacted law requiring age verification to access adult content online. The one bill this research found addressing 'age verification' in Vermont, H.301, targets social media, not adult or pornographic content.
H.301 Is a Social Media Bill, Not an Adult-Content Bill
Searching for a Vermont 'age verification' law most often surfaces H.301, but the bill's own title describes what it actually does: 'An act relating to age verification in social media.' Sponsored by Rep. Michael Mrowicki, it was introduced February 21, 2025 and referred to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee, which held a hearing on April 1, 2025. No further action has been recorded since. This research specifically searched for a Vermont bill targeting adult or pornographic websites using the 'harmful to minors' or 'sexual material' framing other states' laws use, and found none.
Vermont's Age-Appropriate Design Code Is a Different Law
Vermont has enacted a related, but legally distinct, statute: the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, Act 63, signed by Governor Phil Scott and effective on signing June 12, 2025, though its substantive requirements do not take effect until January 1, 2027. The Act requires covered businesses offering online services likely to be accessed by minors to use age-assurance methods, under rules the Vermont Attorney General is directed to adopt, and to apply privacy-protective design defaults for minor users. The Attorney General has rulemaking, investigation, and civil-enforcement authority under the Act.
That rulemaking is now underway. The Attorney General's Office has published proposed rules under 9 V.S.A. 2449f and 2449g, covering prohibited data and design practices and the age-assurance methods a covered business may use. Three public hearings were scheduled for September 2026, and written comments are due on or before October 2, 2026. Section 2449g directs the Attorney General to adopt the age-assurance rules on or before January 1, 2027, the same date the law itself takes effect, so the methods a covered business will actually have to use are still in draft form and can change before then.
This is a general online-service design and privacy code, not a pornography-site-specific age-verification mandate. It governs how online services are designed for users who may be minors generally; it does not create the kind of 'more than one-third adult content' trigger that adult-content age-verification statutes in other states use, and its substantive duties are still more than a year away from taking effect.
The Federal Backdrop
No federal law requires adult-content age verification either. The Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton upheld Texas's age-verification statute under intermediate scrutiny, but the ruling only settles that a state may enact this kind of law without automatically violating the First Amendment. It does not itself require Vermont, or any other state, to pass one. Congress has not filled the gap either: the Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 remain separate, unenacted bills as of 2026.
What This Means for Vermont Residents
Because no adult-content age-verification trigger exists in Vermont, adult content sites generally do not restrict access from Vermont visitors. A visitor accessing adult content from a Vermont IP address is not, under current Vermont law, required to submit identification or complete any state-mandated age-verification step.
Researched directly against the Vermont Legislature's own bill-status page for H.301, the enacted text of Act 63, and the Attorney General's Age-Appropriate Design Code rulemaking page, current as of 2026-09-02. Whether a dedicated adult-content age-verification bill is introduced in a future Vermont session was not resolved in this research.
Related Resources
- Age Verification Laws by State
- Texas Age Verification Law
- KOSA and COPPA 2.0: Federal Age-Verification Bills Explained
Last updated: 2026-09-02.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Vermont require age verification to view adult content?
No. Vermont has not enacted any law requiring age verification before accessing adult content online, and no bill specifically targeting adult content has been found.
What is Vermont's H.301 bill about?
H.301 is titled 'An act relating to age verification in social media.' It addresses social-media platforms, not adult or pornographic websites, and remains in committee.
Does Vermont's Age-Appropriate Design Code require age verification for adult content?
No. Act 63 is a general online-service design and privacy law requiring age-assurance methods for services likely accessed by minors. Its substantive requirements take effect January 1, 2027, and it does not create a pornography-site-specific age-verification mandate.
Is adult content blocked for Vermont residents?
No. Because Vermont has no enacted adult-content age-verification law, adult sites generally do not restrict access from Vermont visitors.
When does Vermont's Age-Appropriate Design Code take effect?
It was signed June 12, 2025, but its substantive requirements do not take effect until January 1, 2027. The Attorney General's implementing rules are still in proposal form: proposed rules are published, three public hearings were scheduled for September 2026, and written comments are due on or before October 2, 2026. The statute directs the Attorney General to adopt the age-assurance rules on or before January 1, 2027.
Updates
Updated to reflect that the Vermont Attorney General has published proposed Age-Appropriate Design Code rules, held public hearings in September 2026, and set an October 2, 2026 deadline for written comments, with the age-assurance rules due to be adopted on or before January 1, 2027.
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
The Law Behind This Article
This article rests on the statutory provisions below, held in our own legal record and retrieved from the official source. Tap a section to read the operative text.
Vermont Statutes Annotated, Title 9: Commerce and Trade, Chapter 62: Protection of Personal Information, Subchapter: VERMONT AGE-APPROPRIATE DESIGN CODE ACT
§ 2449gAge assurance privacy [Effective January 1, 2027]In force
[Subsection (a) effective January 1, 2027.] (a) Privacy protections for age assurance data. During the process of conducting age assurance, covered businesses and processors shall: (1) only collect personal data of a user that is strictly necessary for age assurance; (2) immediately upon determining whether a user is a covered minor, delete any personal data collected of that user for age assurance, except the determination of the user’s age range; (3) not use any personal data of a user collected for age assurance for any other purpose; (4) not combine personal data of a user collected for age assurance, except the determination of the user’s age range, with any other personal data of the user; (5) not disclose personal data of a user collected for age assurance to a third party that is not a processor; and (6) implement a review process to allow users to appeal their age determination. (b) Rulemaking.
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-08-01 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at legislature.vermont.gov
§ 2449fProhibited data and design practices [Effective January 1, 2027]In force
[Subsection (a) effective January 1, 2027.] (a) Data privacy. A covered business shall not: (1) collect, sell, share, or retain any personal data of a covered minor that is not necessary to provide an online service, product, or feature with which the covered minor is actively and knowingly engaged; (2) use previously collected personal data of a covered minor for any purpose other than a purpose for which the personal data was collected, unless necessary to comply with any obligation under this chapter; (3) permit any individual, including a parent or guardian of a covered minor, to monitor the online activity of a covered minor or to track the location of the covered minor without providing a conspicuous signal to the covered minor when the covered minor is being monitored or tracked; (4) use the personal data of a covered minor to select, recommend, or prioritize media for the covered minor, unless the personal data is: (A) the covered minor’s express and unambiguous request to receive: (i) media from a specific account, feed, or user, or to receive more or less media from that account, feed, or user; (ii) a specific category of media, such as “cat videos” or “breaking…
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-08-01 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at legislature.vermont.gov
Search our full record of US law — 2.1 million sections, every state + federal →
Sources and References
- Vermont House Bill H.301 (2025-2026 Biennium), Bill Status(legislature.vermont.gov).gov
- Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, Act 63 (S.69, 2025), As Enacted(legislature.vermont.gov).gov
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 606 U.S. 461 (2025), Opinion of the Court(supremecourt.gov).gov
- Vermont Attorney General, Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code Rulemaking (proposed rules under 9 V.S.A. 2449f and 2449g; comments due October 2, 2026)(ago.vermont.gov)
- 9 V.S.A. 2449g, Age Assurance (Vermont Statutes Online)(legislature.vermont.gov)