An act relating to sexual extortion, voyeurism, and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent

Voyeurism penalties in Section 2605(j) are restructured into age-tiered categories. For victims under 18, first offense carries up to 3 years imprisonment or $5,000 fine (up from 2 years/$1,000), and repeat offenses carry up to 5 years or $10,000 (up from 3 years/$5,000). Penalties for adult victims remain unchanged.

The retroactive civil liability window in Section 2605(k)(4) is extended from 'prior to July 1, 2026' (the effective date) to 'on or after July 1, 2005,' allowing victims of voyeurism to sue for acts going back approximately 21 years.

The retroactive civil liability window in Section 2606(e)(4) is extended from 'prior to July 1, 2026' to 'on or after July 1, 2015,' allowing victims of non-consensual disclosure to sue for acts going back approximately 11 years.

The official version includes a Section 3 amending 13 V.S.A. section 4501 to establish a six-year statute of limitations for voyeurism and disclosure offenses, and a Section 4 setting the effective date as July 1, 2026. These sections do not appear in the visible portion of the unofficial version.

The bill title changes from 'An act relating to voyeurism and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent' to 'An act relating to sexual extortion, voyeurism, and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent,' explicitly naming the sexual extortion component (Section 2607).

A new standalone section 13 V.S.A. 2607 for sexual extortion was created, separating it from the disclosure statute (Section 2606) where it had been embedded in the House version. The new section includes its own definitions, elements, tiered penalties based on victim age, and immunity provisions for victims who report.

Penalties in Section 2605(j) were restructured to add enhanced sentencing for offenses against victims under 18: first offense up to 3 years or $5,000 (vs. 2 years/$1,000 for adult victims), and repeat offenses up to 5 years or $10,000 (vs. 3 years/$5,000 for adult victims).

The criminal statute of limitations for voyeurism offenses (photographing/filming/recording under 2605(c), display/disclosure under 2605(e), and disclosure without consent under 2606) was extended from 6 years in the House version to 40 years in the enacted version, by moving these offenses into the 40-year limitation category in Section 4501(c).

The retroactive civil liability provision in Section 2605(k)(4) was narrowed from covering all violations prior to July 1, 2026 (effectively unlimited lookback) to only violations that occurred on or after July 1, 2005, creating a 20-year lookback period.

A definition of 'Harm' (physical injury, financial injury, or serious emotional distress) was added to Section 2605(a)(9), which did not have this definition in the House version.

Retroactive civil liability for voyeurism (section 2605) changed from applying only to violations 'on or after July 1, 2005' to applying to all violations 'prior to July 1, 2026,' removing the start-date floor and allowing victims to sue for any past violation regardless of when it occurred.

Retroactive civil liability for disclosure of sexually explicit images (section 2606) changed from applying only to violations 'on or after July 1, 2015' to applying to all violations 'prior to July 1, 2026,' similarly removing the start-date floor.

Criminal statute of limitations for voyeurism photographing/filming/recording (section 2605(c)), voyeurism display/disclosure (section 2605(e)), and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent (section 2606) reduced from 40 years to 6 years after the offense or 6 years after the victim discovers the image, whichever is later.

Sexual extortion (section 2607) appears to have been removed from the 40-year statute of limitations category in the official version and is not included in the new 6-year category, which would place it under the general 3-year felony limitation period.

The official version adds the list of introducing representatives, a statement of purpose summarizing the bill's provisions, and includes the full text of the resulting amended statutes after the amendment instructions, which accounts for the page count increasing from 14 to 28.

A new standalone section 2607 (Sexual Extortion) was created, separating extortion threats from the general disclosure statute. It includes its own definitions, elements, and tiered penalties based on victim age (up to 3 years for adult victims, up to 10 years for minors, up to 15 years if serious bodily injury or death results).

The sexual extortion provisions that were embedded within section 2606(b)(2) in the introduced version (threats to compel production of nude images, threats to accuse of crime, cause injury, expose secrets, or report immigration status) were removed from that section and relocated to the new standalone section 2607.

A victim immunity provision was added in the new sexual extortion section: a person who reports to law enforcement that they are a victim of sexual extortion cannot be cited, arrested, or prosecuted for certain indecent material offenses (sections 2802, 2802a, 2802b). The immunity is limited to evidence gained as a proximate result of the report.

The statute of limitations for voyeurism photographing/filming/recording, voyeurism display/disclosure, and disclosure of sexually explicit images without consent was increased from 6 years (introduced version) to 40 years (passed version). Sexual extortion was also added to the 40-year limitation list.

The retroactive civil remedy for voyeurism was extended from 'prior to July 1, 2026' in the introduced version to 'on or after July 1, 2005' in the passed version, allowing civil suits for violations going back over 20 years. The retroactive civil remedy for disclosure of sexually explicit images was similarly extended from 'prior to July 1, 2026' to 'on or after July 1, 2015.'

The voyeurism statute (section 2605) was restructured: the introduced version combined viewing and photographing/filming/recording in a single subsection (b), while the passed version separates them into distinct subsections (b) for unlawful viewing and (c) for unlawful photographing, filming, or recording. The display/disclosure provision was also reorganized to reference images recorded in violation of the new subsection (c).