Tag Archives: Minnesota

VT Acknowledges Your Brain Has Rights

Vermont state flag flying on a pole with mountainous landscape in background

When Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H.814 into law on May 18, 2026, it marked a quiet but historic moment: every Vermonter gained a legal right to the privacy of their own mind. For the brain injury community, which is a population that increasingly relies on brain-computer interfaces, AI-powered rehabilitation tools, and wearable neurotechnology, the law provides a crucial layer of protection for some of the most intimate data imaginable.

Formally titled “An act relating to neurological rights and the use of artificial intelligence technology in health and human services,” H.814 takes effect July 1, 2026. The bill legally recognizes what should already be commonsense: every Vermonter has a right to “mental and neural data privacy,” “the freedom of thought,” and protection from “unauthorized access to or manipulation of an individual’s brain activity.” For those with brain injuries who depend on neurotechnology for communication, mobility, or cognitive support, that last phrase is a safeguard for the data generated at the most vulnerable intersection of their lives.

With this bill, Vermont joins Colorado, California, Montana, and Connecticut, though each of which has taken a distinct approach to neurological privacy. Colorado and California moved first in 2024, amending existing consumer privacy statutes to classify neural data as sensitive personal information. Montana went further with a standalone law amending its Genetic Information Privacy Act, requiring robust consent and uniquely prohibiting the storage of neural data in U.S.-sanctioned countries. Connecticut’s 2025 amendment was narrower, covering only the central nervous system. Vermont’s law aligns most closely with Connecticut’s, in that it establishes specific rights, while directing the state’s AI Advisory Council to develop further ethical guidelines, which extends through 2030.

Sponsored by State Representative Brian Cina, a clinical social worker, Vermont’s new legislation, and beyond the aforementioned five states that have similar laws, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and New York are currently advancing similar bills. For the brain injury community, the question is no longer whether neurotechnology will be part of care and recovery, as it already is. The question is whether the law will keep pace.

Minnesota Overhauls Brain Injury Waiver Program

Minnesota’s Brain Injury (BI) Waiver Program has supported survivors of traumatic and acquired brain injuries since 1992. In 2026, it is facing sweeping changes, bringing both new benefits and serious concerns for tens of thousands of residents who depend on it.

On the positive side, the program covers 44 distinct services, has no waitlist, and swim lessons have been added as an allowable Consumer Directed Community Support expense. Administratively, “MnCHOICES is a computer application used… to support their assessment and support planning work for Minnesotans who need long-term services and supports (LTSS), regardless of age, type of disability or service needs.” 

But disability advocates are alarmed. The 2025 Legislature passed $1.3 billion in disability waiver cuts, and structured day services – vital therapeutic programming for brain injury survivors – have been removed from the BI Waiver service definition entirely. Currently, roughly 15 to 20 states run standalone brain injury waivers, including Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, and Kansas, though they vary widely.

Additionally, recent investigation into the state’s BI Waiver Program, and into Medicaid grants, as a whole, seems to have also uncovered significant fraud, including overbilling for services, billing for services not rendered, and improper billing by unlicensed staff. In January 2026, this discovery of fraud prompted the state to freeze enrollment of the Brain Injury Waiver Program, and other programs.