The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 3 : Executive

Chapter 053 : Human Services

Subchapter 004 : DEPARTMENTS, DIVISIONS, COUNCILS, AND BOARDS

• § 3090. Human Services Board

  (a) The Human Services Board is created within the Agency of Human Services as the successor to and the continuation of the present Social Welfare Board. It consists of seven members. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint members for terms of six years so that not more than three terms expire in the same biennium. The Governor shall designate the Board’s Chair.

  (b) The duties of the Board shall be to act as a Fair Hearing Board on appeals brought pursuant to section 3091 of this title.

  (c) The Board shall hold meetings at times and places warned by the Chair on his or her own initiative or upon request of two Board members or the Governor. Four members shall constitute a quorum, except that three members shall constitute a quorum at any meeting upon the written authorization of the Chair issued in connection with that meeting.

  (d) With the approval of the Governor the Board may appoint one or more hearing officers, who shall be outside the classified service, and it may employ such secretarial assistance as it deems necessary in the performance of its duties.

  (e) On or before January 15 of each year, the Board shall report to the House Committees on Human Services and on Health Care and the Senate Committees on Appropriations and on Health and Welfare regarding the fair hearings conducted by the Board during the three preceding calendar years, including:

  (1) the total number of fair hearings conducted over the three-year period and per year;

  (2) the number of hearings per year involving appeals of decisions by the Agency itself and each department within the Agency, with the appeals and decisions relating to health insurance through the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange reported distinctly from other programs;

  (3) the number of hearings per year based on appeals of decisions regarding:

  (A) eligibility;

  (B) benefits;

  (C) coverage;

  (D) financial assistance;

  (E) child support; and

  (F) other categories of appeals;

  (4) the number of hearings per year based on appeals of decisions regarding each State program over which the Board has jurisdiction;

  (5) the number of decisions per year made in favor of the appellant; and

  (6) the number of decisions per year made in favor of the department or the Agency. (Added 1973, No. 101, § 4; amended 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 72; 2013, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § E.304; 2017, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. May 21, 2018.)