# Vermont H.137: An act relating to the regulation of insurance products and services Vermont H.137, An act relating to the regulation of insurance products and services, is a 2025-2026 Session House bill sponsored by Michael J Marcotte (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-05-20 (House message: Governor approved bill on May 19, 2025); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-H137-2026 - As of: 2026-11-01 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Vermont H.137 - State: Vermont - Session: 2025-2026 Session - Title: An act relating to the regulation of insurance products and services - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-02-04 - Last action: 2025-05-20, House message: Governor approved bill on May 19, 2025 - Sponsor: Michael J Marcotte (Republican) - Cosponsors: 8 - Touches household money: yes - Economic provisions PRIA read: 17 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - Insurance protections for affordable housing residents: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, insurers cannot use listed affordable-housing conditions to deny, cancel, or refuse to renew residential property or liability insurance. They also cannot raise premiums or reduce coverage for those reasons. Protected conditions include affordable-housing requirements, gover… - Licensing relief for qualifying payroll providers: benefit, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, small payroll processors can avoid chapter 53 licensing with no more than 25 Vermont-based employers. They must also serve no more than 500 employers overall and fewer than 300 Vermont-resident employees. Providers, key people, and controlling people must have no felony conv… - Clearer terms for virtual-currency customers: benefit, low. Licensed virtual-currency businesses must provide clear, separate information customers can keep before doing business, beginning July 1, 2025. Applicable disclosures cover fees, guarantees, transfer rules, errors, liability, timing, stop-payment rights, records, and notice of changes. They must al… - Fraud refunds for currency kiosk customers: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, new kiosk customers receive full refunds, including fees, for transactions they were tricked into making. They must report fraud within 90 days after their last transaction with that operator. Existing customers receive all fees back, not the transaction amount, and must rep… - Kiosk customers get warnings and live help: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, new kiosk accounts require disclosures about risks, unauthorized-transaction liability, information sharing, records, policy changes, and regulator contacts. Before transactions, operators must explain refund policies and daily limits and warn about scams, irreversible trans… - Broader privacy for financial investigation records: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, investigation and examination confidentiality rules cover anyone licensed, authorized, or registered by Vermont's financial regulator. They also cover anyone required to hold that status. This replaces the earlier coverage based on specified insurance and financial statutes. - Insurers must file rates before use: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, insurers in competitive markets must file rates and supporting information at least 30 days before use. This replaces the deadline of within 15 days after rates took effect. The rule excludes filings under 8 V.S.A. § 4687, specifically rated inland marine risks, and risks ex… - Captive insurers gain broader business options: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, captive insurers can seek licenses for the full range of insurance business listed in state law. Their organizational documents must allow that business, and existing limits on each captive type's insured risks remain. Captives can reinsure approved policies covering parent,… - Higher allowed fees at virtual-currency kiosks: cost, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, the percentage ceiling on virtual-currency kiosk charges rises from 3% to 15%. Total charges cannot exceed the greater of $5 or 15% of the virtual currency's U.S. dollar value. The cap covers a single transaction or related transactions together. Charges include the differen… - Temporary operating ban for most currency kiosks: cost, medium. From July 1, 2025, until July 1, 2026, virtual-currency kiosks generally cannot operate in Vermont. The ban does not cover kiosks that were both duly licensed and operating in Vermont by June 30, 2024. - Kiosk customers face identity and fraud checks: mixed, medium. Beginning July 1, 2025, kiosk operators must verify identity before payment and collect government ID, a retainable photo, and contact details. Required details include name, birth date, phone number, address, and email; customers cannot use another person's identity. Operators are strictly liable… - Borrowers can pay points for lower rates: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, lenders can charge discount points only when borrowers request them to reduce the loan's rate or financing charge. The points must produce a genuine reduction. Borrowers pay an upfront charge in exchange for that reduction; the law does not set the charge or total savings. - Higher new-customer limit, existing-customer cash cap: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, a kiosk operator's daily cash limit for a new customer rises from $1,000 to $2,000. The operator cannot accept or dispense more than $5,000 in cash daily for an existing customer. Transactions through one or more Vermont kiosks count together, including related transactions. - Medicare supplement notices expand, oversight narrows: mixed, low. Beginning January 1, 2026, Vermont's financial regulator must post Medicare supplement premium-increase requests within five business days of receiving them. Posts must show requested increases, proposed start dates, filing access, and public comment instructions and deadlines. For carriers coverin… - Kiosk operators face stronger fraud-control duties: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, kiosk operators must follow licensing rules and ensure other businesses using their kiosks are licensed and compliant. They must use blockchain fraud-checking software and retain a specialist service to help block known fraud-linked wallets. Written antifraud policies must c… - Captive insurers get updated governance rules: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, mutual captive insurers must follow specified insurance governance rules; the captive-insurance chapter controls conflicts. Captives formed as limited liability companies or reciprocal insurers can use board-authorized signers for specified certifications, reports, and merge… - Mutual banks gain depositor-focused governance limits: mixed, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, mutual financial institutions' governing representatives, called corporators, must live in or near the institution's service area. They cannot continue serving after losing that residency status. More than 50% must be depositors, and at least two-thirds must be independent o… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Michael J Marcotte (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Abbey Duke (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Anthony "Tony" Micklus (Republican), House - Cosponsor: David "Dave" Bosch (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Edye Graning (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Emily Carris Duncan (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Herb Olson (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Jonathan Cooper (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Kirk White (Democratic), House ## Actions (31) - 2025-05-20: House message: Governor approved bill on May 19, 2025 (House) - 2025-05-20: Signed by Governor on May 19, 2025 (House) - 2025-05-13: Delivered to Governor on May 13, 2025 (House) - 2025-05-09: House message: House concurred in Senate proposal of amendment (House) - 2025-05-08: Senate proposal of amendment concurred in (House) - 2025-05-08: Action Calendar: Senate Proposal of Amendment (House) - 2025-05-07: Notice Calendar: Senate Proposal of Amendment (House) - 2025-05-06: Senate Message: Passed in concurrence with proposal of amendment (Senate) - 2025-05-02: Read 3rd time & passed in concurrence with proposal of amendment (Senate) - 2025-05-02: New Business/Third Reading (Senate) - 2025-05-01: 3rd reading ordered (Senate) - 2025-05-01: Proposal of amendment by Committee on Finance agreed to (Senate) - 2025-05-01: Read 2nd time, reported favorably with proposal of amendment by Senator Cummings for Committee on Finance (Senate) - 2025-05-01: Favorable report with proposal of amendment by Committee on Finance (Senate) - 2025-05-01: New Business/Second Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-30: Favorable report with proposal of amendment by Committee on Finance (Senate) - 2025-04-30: Second Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-30: Entered on Notice Calendar (Senate) - 2025-03-20: Read 1st time & referred to Committee on Finance (Senate) - 2025-03-18: Read third time and passed (House) - 2025-03-18: Action Calendar: Third Reading (House) - 2025-03-14: Third Reading ordered (House) - 2025-03-14: Report of Committee on Commerce and Economic Development agreed to (House) - 2025-03-14: Rep. Burkhardt of South Burlington recommended for the Committee on Ways and Means (House) - 2025-03-14: Rep. White of Bethel reported for the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development (House) - 2025-03-14: Read second time (House) - 2025-03-14: Action Calendar: Favorable with Amendment (House) - 2025-03-13: Notice Calendar: Favorable with Amendment (House) - 2025-03-11: Referred to Committee on Ways and Means per Rule 35(a) (House) - 2025-03-11: Notice Calendar: Favorable with Amendment (House) - 2025-02-04: Read first time and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development (House) ## Bill text - As Enacted (ACT 23)Opens in a new window, 2025-05-28: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/ACTS/ACT023/ACT023%20As%20Enacted.pdf) - As Passed by Both Chambers, 2025-05-12: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by Both House and Senate Official.pdf) - As Passed by Both Chambers (Unofficial), 2025-05-12: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by Both House and Senate Unofficial.pdf) - Senate Proposal of Amendment, 2025-05-07: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 Senate proposal of amendment Official.pdf) - Senate Proposal of Amendment (Unofficial), 2025-05-07: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 Senate Proposal of Amendment Unofficial.pdf) - As Passed by the House, 2025-03-20: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As passed by the House Official.pdf) - As Passed by the House (Unofficial), 2025-03-20: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by the House Unofficial.pdf) - As Introduced, 2025-02-03: [PDF](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Introduced.pdf) ## Related bills - S.328: An act relating to housing and common interest communities (signed) - S.327: An act relating to economic development (signed) - S.313: An act relating to transforming Vermont’s career technical education system (signed) - S.323: An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects (signed) - S.326: An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to laws relating to motor vehicles (signed) - S.298: An act relating to voter protections (signed) ## Sources - [As Enacted (ACT 23)Opens in a new window (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/ACTS/ACT023/ACT023%20As%20Enacted.pdf) - [As Passed by Both Chambers (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by Both House and Senate Official.pdf) - [As Passed by Both Chambers (Unofficial) (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by Both House and Senate Unofficial.pdf) - [Senate Proposal of Amendment (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 Senate proposal of amendment Official.pdf) - [Senate Proposal of Amendment (Unofficial) (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 Senate Proposal of Amendment Unofficial.pdf) - [As Passed by the House (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As passed by the House Official.pdf) - [As Passed by the House (Unofficial) (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Passed by the House Unofficial.pdf) - [As Introduced (PDF)](https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/BILLS/H-0137/H-0137 As Introduced.pdf) ## Related - [S.328: An act relating to housing and common interest communities](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S328-2026) - [S.327: An act relating to economic development](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S327-2026) - [S.313: An act relating to transforming Vermont’s career technical education system](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S313-2026) - [S.323: An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S323-2026) - [S.326: An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to laws relating to motor vehicles](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S326-2026) - [S.298: An act relating to voter protections](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-S298-2026) - [Vermont bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/vermont/bills) - [Vermont state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/vermont) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VT-H137-2026 (as of 2026-11-01).