Agency of Human Services to study fair-hearing process; report due Dec. 15, 2025

The Agency of Human Services (AHS) told a legislative committee it will prepare a review of fair-hearing procedures handled by the Human Services Board and deliver recommendations to the committee by Dec. 15, 2025.

"After I was here last week, we've met with some departments and individuals about this," Ashley Johns, Agency of Human Services staff, told the committee. She said the agency found the human-services fair-hearing process is broad and varied across departments and that AHS wants time to analyze unintended consequences of proposed statutory changes so federal and state funding and program rules are not jeopardized.

Johns said AHS would work with stakeholders who testified to the committee, identify current processes across departments and divisions, and offer recommendations to improve beneficiary experience, increase administrative efficiency and protect federal and state funding. "What we're recommending today is that the agency would be willing to submit a report to the committee by December fifteenth of 2025 detailing current processes within the AHS process and in the Human Services Board as well," Johns said.

Committee members and witnesses raised several recurring concerns: most appellants appear at Human Services Board hearings without legal representation; departments collect and report appeal data inconsistently; withdrawn cases often are recorded with unknown outcomes; and interactions in hearings can be intimidating to appellants who are not part of the legal system. Committee members discussed potential remedies that could be examined in the agency report, including plain-language summaries for appellants, short explanatory videos, standardized departmental data collection, a formal stakeholder convening process, and training for attorneys who represent departments on how to interact with pro se appellants.

Johns noted one legal limit: AHS staff cannot give legal advice to appellants. "We can't give legal advice," she said, but added that the agency can share procedural documents produced by the Board's legal assistance office and collaborate with Vermont Legal Aid and other stakeholders on plain-language materials. Members suggested models to emulate, including the small-claims roadmap produced by VermontLawHelp.org.

Draft statutory language prepared by staff would require a plain-language summary of the hearing process to be provided to appellants at least 10 days before a scheduled hearing and would create a formal, regular convening of AHS, departments and frequent advocates and stakeholders to review patterns and recommend improvements. Committee members discussed whether training for attorneys should be mandatory, whether it could be coordinated with the Attorney General's Office, and how to avoid interfering with attorneys' ethical obligations to zealously represent their clients.

AHS agreed to prepare the report, work with stakeholders named by the committee (including Vermont Legal Aid, the Human Services Board and community advocates), and return with specific recommendations and implementation considerations. The committee indicated it will request further information and may invite representatives from the Attorney General's Office to discuss the role and oversight of assistant attorney generals who represent departments.

No committee vote was recorded on H.92 in the provided transcript; the session concluded with the agency's commitment to return with a report and with committee members asking staff to refine draft statutory language and to review the Human Services Board's existing report and data formats.