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Human Rights Commission tells Appropriations it needs more investigators to address intake backlog
Summary
The Vermont Human Rights Commission told the House Appropriations Committee it has reduced average case age but still faces an intake backlog and requests additional investigator positions in its FY27 budget to handle more fair‑housing and public‑accommodations complaints amid declining federal and legal‑aid referrals.
Big Hartman, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, told the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 5 that the agency is asking for additional investigator positions in its fiscal year 2027 budget to address an intake backlog and growing casework.
Hartman said the commission — an independent state commission tasked with enforcing the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act and handling state‑employee discrimination complaints — has grown to nine full‑time exempt employees after two positions were added last year. He credited a new case‑management system and streamlining of investigative reports for reducing the average age of closed investigations from about 649 days to roughly one year. "The mission of the Vermont Human Rights Commission is to advance full civil and human rights in Vermont," Hartman said in his opening remarks.
Despite improvements, Hartman said the office remains capacity‑constrained. He described a persistent backlog on the intake side, noting the commission declines some complaints because it lacks the resources to accept them. He reported that many of the Commission’s active litigation matters are fair‑housing cases — including reasonable‑accommodation denials and harassment claims — and that as of the hearing between 15 and 18 cases were in court under the Commission’s lead. "We would like to finish cases within 6 to 12 months so that our average is lower than a year," Hartman said.
Hartman told the committee the Commission benefited from a full‑time intake coordinator hired after last year’s appropriation and a newly created senior counsel position (a litigator) in FY23, but said federal partners and legal‑aid referrals have decreased. He said HUD referrals and some legal‑aid partnerships that previously funneled draft complaints and intake work to the Commission are not as available, producing more direct requests to the Commission and increasing intake labor. He added the governor’s recommended budget treats federal dollars conservatively and effectively results in a $27,009 reduction in the Commission’s funding for FY27 compared with FY26.
On personnel savings, Hartman said the governor’s proposed increase in vacancy turnover savings (to about $65,000) is unrealistic and would stall important work unless staff voluntarily leave positions. He offered to return with follow‑up if the committee had additional questions. Committee members asked for clarification about case types, intake triage, and whether more staff would enable the Commission to accept a higher flow of complaints; Hartman answered that more investigators would allow the agency to accept and process more cases but cautioned about overloading current investigators.
The committee did not take formal action on the request during the hearing. The Commission provided FY25 case data, a two‑page FY26 midyear summary, and a memo describing the FY27 personnel and vacancy proposals to the committee record.
