What is Act 119?
Act 119 of 2024 requires the Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) to assess and collect feedback to understand how well we are serving the public. And more importantly, to explore how we can do better to provide important services to Vermont communities. The goal of Act 119 is to:
“Create a meaningful process through which the Agency, its departments, and the individuals and organizations with whom they engage most can collaborate to identify opportunities to build on past successes and to make improvements for the future.” (Act 119, Sec. 1 (b))
The specific requirement of the Act is that the Agency conduct a review of how we do our work, identify potential ways we can improve, and provide a report with any recommendations and a potential implementation plan to the legislature by November 1, 2025.
What does this mean?
Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, Jenney Samuelson sees Act 119 as “an opportunity to revisit our shared vision and make our Agency stronger and more effective in the coming years and decades”.
Working to meet the requirements of the Act will give us an opportunity to identify strengths as well as gaps and areas of weakness; find ways to align and improve our systems and processes; and think about new and innovative ways we might serve our core missions.
What is the Agency of Human Services doing now?
Starting this winter and into the spring, AHS leadership and staff are focused on gathering feedback of all kinds. We will be seeking input from staff, partners, clients, and the public. We hope to hear about what is going well, what needs to be better, and what ideas there are for new ways that AHS and its programs can serve the public.
We are currently:
- Gathering open comments from the public and AHS staff
- Meeting with key partner organizations and collaborators
We will continue to collect feedback from across the state for several months. Combining this with information and data on policy, program structure, and budget will guide the development and evaluation of potential options for improvement. As spring turns to summer, we will explore these options together and seek feedback from our staff, partners, and the public.
More information about the process will be shared on this webpage as the timeline progresses.
Act 119 Project Timeline
Graphic Description: Act 119 project begins September 2024 and runs through the final report due November 2025. Steps include initiation and planning; internal communications and engagement; external communications and engagement; open comment form, focus groups and key interviews; data analysis and interpretation; options development and review; options public comment and finalize; options planning; and the final report.
We want your feedback!
Do you think we do a good job of collaborating and integrating our work here at AHS? Can you think of ways that we can better meet the needs of our clients? Want to share ideas that you have for improving?
We invite you to use the form below to tell us what you think. You can also access the feedback form through this link.
Have questions?
If you have questions about how Agency of Human Services leadership and staff are working to collect information of value for the legislature and to guide our own improvement, please email ahs.performanceimprovement@vermont.gov