Amalgamated Transit Union v. Skinner
| Decision Date | 19 January 1990 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 89-5380,89-5381 and 89-5384,AFL-CIO,s. 89-5380 |
| Citation | 894 F.2d 1362 |
| Parties | , 58 USLW 2422, 5 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 1, 1989 O.S.H.D. (CCH) P 28,800 AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION, et al., Appellants, v. Samuel K. SKINNER, Secretary of Transportation, et al., Appellees. TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA,, et al., Appellants, v. Samuel K. SKINNER, Secretary of Transportation, et al., Appellees. RAILWAY LABOR EXECUTIVES' ASSOCIATION, et al., Appellants, v. Samuel K. SKINNER, Secretary of Transportation, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Civil Nos. 89-03642, 89-00067 & 89-01086).
Robert M. Weinberg, with whom Bruce R. Lerner, Earle W. Putnam, Washington, D.C. and Leo E. Wetzel, were on the brief for appellants, Amalgamated Transit Union, et al., in No. 89-5380.
Arthur M. Luby, Washington, D.C., entered an appearance for appellants, Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, et al., in No. 89-5381.
Lawrence M. Mann, Washington, D.C. entered an appearance for appellants, Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n, et al., in No. 89-5384.
Stuart M. Gerson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, with whom Jay B. Stephens, U.S. Atty., Leonard Schaitman, John C. Hoyle and Wendy M. Keats, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Diane R. Liff, Asst. Gen. Counsel and Trudy B. Levy, Asst. Chief Counsel, Dept. of Transp., Washington, D.C., were on the brief for appellees in Nos. 89-5380, 89-5381 and 89-5384.
Before WALD, Chief Judge, and EDWARDS and SILBERMAN, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the Court filed by Chief Judge WALD.
In December 1988, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration ("UMTA") issued regulations to require recipients of federal mass transit funds to implement an anti-drug program for employees who perform sensitive safety functions. 1 The required anti-drug program would include urinalysis testing of employees prior to employment, after an accident, when reasonable suspicion of drug use exists, randomly, and before returning to duty after a positive drug test. The rule was intended "to ensure a drug-free transit workforce and to eliminate drug use and abuse in the public transit industry." 53 Fed.Reg. at 47,156.
Labor organizations, and individual transit employees who would be subjected to drug testing under the regulations ("Amalgamated" or "Unions"), filed suit in district court. They challenged UMTA's statutory authority to impose a federally-designed, comprehensive drug testing program on all recipients of federal mass transit money. 2 In ruling against the Unions on cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court concluded that UMTA had the authority to specify the particular elements of a plan to deal with an identified safety hazard. The district court found nothing in the Urban Mass Transportation Act ("UMT Act" or "the Act") to preclude UMTA from proceeding through rulemaking rather than through individual adjudication to articulate the prerequisites to approval of a safety plan. The court concluded that to hold otherwise would "impermissibly elevate form over substance." Memorandum Opinion ("Mem. Op.") at 4, Joint Appendix ("J.A.") at 70.
Where Congress prescribes the form in which an agency may exercise its authority, however, we cannot elevate the goals of an agency's action, however reasonable, over that prescribed form. In this case, we find that Sec. 22 of the Act, the principal authority relied on by UMTA, sets out a specific protocol for federal intervention into local safety matters that does not include rulemaking on uniform, national criteria to be imposed on local transit authorities. See 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1618. Contrary to the government's argument on appeal, we also find that the Unions have standing to pursue this action. Accordingly, we reverse with instructions to the district court to vacate the challenged regulations.
The UMT Act provides for federal financial assistance to state and local agencies to assist in planning, establishing, and financing local mass transit systems. Pub.L. No. 88-365, 78 Stat. 302 (1964) (). The Act is administered by UMTA, which operates under a delegation of authority from the Secretary of Transportation ("Secretary"). See 49 C.F.R. Sec. 1.51 (1984). UMTA carries out its mandate by making grants or loans to state and local transportation agencies.
Much of UMTA's funding is distributed on a formula basis pursuant to the Act's Sec. 9 and Sec. 18 block grant programs. 49 U.S.C.App. Secs. 1607a and 1614. Under the Sec. 9 block grant program, for example, state and local agencies receive mass transportation funds based on a formula which takes into account the size of the urbanized areas, the amount of revenue, the number of bus revenue miles, and operating costs. 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1607a(c). Under Sec. 3 of the Act, 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1602, UMTA is also authorized to make discretionary grants or loans to assist states and local agencies in financing, constructing, or improving mass transportation facilities and equipment, and introducing new technology or projects which enhance the effectiveness of mass transportation. 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1602(a)(1).
Consistent with federal procurement practice, UMTA has the authority to impose terms and conditions on its awards as necessary to ensure successful completion of the project. Under its discretionary grant authority in Sec. 3, for example, UMTA must determine that the fund recipients have the "legal, financial, and technical capacity" to carry out the purposes of the grants, see 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1602(a)(2)(A)(i), and that the applicant has or will have "satisfactory continuing control" over the use of the facilities and the equipment, see 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1602(a)(2)(A)(ii). Under its formula grant program, applicants must merely certify to UMTA that they meet these conditions. See 49 U.S.C.App. Secs. 1607a(e)(3)(A) and (e)(3)(B). Additionally, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, UMTA can prescribe "terms and conditions" for its discretionary grants and loans, see 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1602(a)(1), and for its formula grant program for areas other than urbanized areas (as long as those "terms and conditions" are appropriate to the special needs of public transportation in nonurban areas), see 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1641(f).
In its notice of proposed rulemaking, UMTA suggested that this grant-conditioning language provided it with statutory authority to promulgate safety regulations, such as the anti-drug program regulations at issue. See 53 Fed.Reg. at 25,913-914 and 53 Fed.Reg. at 47,169. It asserted that "technical capacity" must include the ability to provide safe mass transportation services, and that exercising "satisfactory continuing control" implies an ability to ensure the safe operation of UMTA-assisted facilities and equipment. 53 Fed.Reg. at 47,169. We do not find it necessary to determine the parameters of UMTA's authority to condition grants in this manner because Congress has delegated to UMTA specific authority over safety in Sec. 22 of the Act, 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1618.
Section 22 states in full The Secretary may investigate conditions in any facility, equipment, or manner of operation financed under this chapter which the Secretary believes creates a serious hazard of death or injury. The investigation should determine the nature and extent of such conditions and the means which might best be employed to correct or eliminate them. If the Secretary determines that such conditions do create such a hazard, he shall require the local public body which has received funds under this chapter to submit a plan for correcting or eliminating such condition. The Secretary may withhold further financial assistance under this chapter from the local public body until he approves such plan and the local public body implements such plan.
49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1618. As UMTA acknowledged in its brief and at oral argument, and as is apparent from the statutory scheme, this section clearly governs UMTA's authority over safety matters. And, contrary to the Unions' claim, UMTA did refer to its "role in transit safety" as expressed by Congress in Sec. 22 of the Act as providing the "statutory basis" for the regulations in both its notice of proposed rulemaking and in its final rule. See 53 Fed.Reg. at 25,914 ( ); 53 Fed.Reg. at 47,169 (). We, therefore, base our analysis of the scope of UMTA's safety authority on an assessment of Sec. 22 on its own terms and as it fits into UMTA's statutory scheme. With Sec. 22 as the backdrop, then, we will now describe the anti-drug program as set out in the challenged regulations.
Based on the premise that the use of any controlled substance has the potential to degrade safety performance, UMTA proposed regulations that would detect and deter drug use among mass transportation workers performing sensitive-safety functions. 3 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Control of Drug Use in Mass Transportation Operations, 53 Fed.Reg. at 25,910 (July 8, 1988). On December 21, 1988, after receiving over 170 comments and holding hearings on the proposed rule, UMTA issued its final rule. 53 Fed.Reg. at 47,156.
Pursuant to the regulations, recipients of funds under Secs. 3, 9, or 18 of the Act must...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
E.E.O.C. v. Catholic University of America
... ... O.S.M., Associate Professor of Canon Law at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois; Reverend David M. Hynous, O.P., Vice-Chancellor of ... ...
-
Hammontree v. N.L.R.B., 89-1137
... ... "babysat the telephone." Later that year, CF and Hammontree's union local reached an oral agreement: CF would post departure times for peddle ... 929, 934, 108 L.Ed.2d 23 (1990) (internal quotes omitted); Amalgamated Transit Union v. Skinner, 894 F.2d 1362, 1368 (D.C.Cir.1990). When the ... ...
-
Animal Legal Defense Fund, Inc. v. Espy
...self-imposed prudential limitations on our jurisdiction, [ ] 'waiver' is necessarily ineffective"); see also Amalgamated Transit Union v. Skinner, 894 F.2d 1362, 1366 (D.C.Cir.1990) (investigating zone of interests challenge "[f]or the first time on appeal"). Air Courier Conference v. Ameri......
-
U.S. v. Barnes
...of the language ultimately enacted, are an authoritative guide to the statute's construction"); see also Amalgamated Transit Union v. Skinner, 894 F.2d 1362, 1370 n. 6 (D.C.Cir. 1990). His statements express the unmistakable intent that a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" need not ex......