Dowell v. Commissioner of Transitional Assistance

• Decision Date: 21 March 1997
• Citation: 424 Mass. 610,677 N.E.2d 213
• Parties: Audrey DOWELL & others 1 v. COMMISSIONER OF TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 213

677 N.E.2d 213

424 Mass. 610

Audrey DOWELL & others ¹ v. COMMISSIONER OF TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Suffolk.

Argued Dec. 3, 1996.

Decided March 21, 1997.

Peter Sacks, Assistant Attorney General (Mary E. Murphy-Hensley, Assistant Attorney General, with him), for the Commissioner of Transitional Assistance.

Steven J. Valero, Buffalo, NY (Richard M.W. Bauer, Somerville, and Elizabeth E. Crimmins, Cambridge, with him), for plaintiffs.

Before WILKINS, C.J., and ABRAMS, LYNCH, O'CONNOR, GREANEY, FRIED and MARSHALL, JJ.

ABRAMS, Justice.

We consider the facial validity of a regulation promulgated by the Department of Transitional Assistance (department) which provides that persons who have been evicted from public or subsidized housing for nonpayment of rent are ineligible to receive benefits under the Commonwealth's emergency assistance (EA) program. See 106 Code Mass.Regs. § 309.040(A)(1)(c) (1995). ² The plaintiffs, Audrey Dowell, Margaret Ratliff, and the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless (MCH), filed a complaint in the Superior Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the department from enforcing the challenged regulation. After hearing arguments, a Superior Court judge allowed the plaintiffs' motions for class certification and for summary judgment, ruling that the regulation exceeds the authority of the department and violates State and Federal law. The judge permanently enjoined the department from implementing the regulation and ordered the provision of specified notice to all class members. ³ We granted the department's application for direct appellate review.

The plaintiffs are homeless persons whose applications for EA temporary shelter benefits were denied based on their eviction from subsidized housing for nonpayment of rent. The plaintiffs have raised only a facial challenge to the regulation as set forth in 106 Code Mass.Regs. § 309.040(A)(1)(c). Therefore, although we appreciate and sympathize with their dire circumstances, we do not reach the issue whether the regulation has been applied to the plaintiffs in a manner inconsistent with the standards expressed in the governing statutes and regulations. See Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 422 Mass. 214, 225-226, 661 N.E.2d 1276 (1996); Berrios v. Department of Pub. Welfare, 411 Mass. 587, 598, 583 N.E.2d 856 (1992).

We note at the outset that a party who attacks the facial validity of a regulation bears the heavy burden of "proving on the record 'the absence of any conceivable ground upon which [the rule] may be upheld.' " Purity Supreme, Inc. v. Attorney Gen., 380 Mass. 762, 776, 407 N.E.2d 297 (1980), quoting Colella v. State Racing Comm'n, 360 Mass. 152, 156, 274 N.E.2d 331 (1971). That burden cannot be carried "by arguing that the record does not affirmatively show facts which support the regulation." Id. For the reasons stated below, we conclude that the plaintiffs have not met their burden. We vacate the judgment and remand for entry of a declaration that 106 Code Mass.Regs. § 309.040(A)(1)(c) is facially valid and enforceable. ⁴

The EA program is a cooperative Federal-State program established under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601 et seq. (1994), whereby participating States receive Federal matching funds to defray the cost of providing temporary aid to needy families with children. General Laws c. 18, § 2(D), authorizes the department to implement and administer an EA program to "assist eligible families to prevent destitution or to provide living arrangements in the home." EA benefits include emergency payments for rent, mortgage, and utility arrearages, home heating assistance, and temporary shelter for persons without "feasible alternative housing." G.L. c. 18, § 2(D) (a)-(d).

The judge interpreted the EA statute as granting the department only the authority to establish the levels of benefits available under the program, and not the discretion to create exceptions as to who is eligible to receive those benefits. ⁵ The judge determined that, because the challenged regulation denies EA based on the cause of the homelessness rather than on the need for temporary shelter, the regulation exceeds the department's statutory authority and conflicts with the legislative intent to "alleviate homelessness" by providing "temporary shelter as necessary." The judge also held that the regulation violates G.L. c. 18, § 2(B) (d), because the regulation is not "fair, just and equitable," and violates 45 C.F.R. § 233.10(a)(1) (1994) because it is "arbitrary and unreasonable."

Our review is guided by the well-established principle of administrative law that "[r]egulations are not to be declared void unless their provisions cannot by any reasonable construction be interpreted in harmony with the legislative mandate, and enforcement of such regulations should be refused only if they are plainly in excess of legislative power" (citations omitted). Berrios, supra at 595-596, 583 N.E.2d 856. On appeal, the department argues that the judge erred in examining the language and purpose of G.L. c. 18, § 2(D), in isolation, without considering the broad authority granted the department by other provisions of that same statute. See id. at 595, 583 N.E.2d 856. We agree.

"Provisions of legislation addressing similar subject matter are to be construed together to make an harmonious whole consistent with the legislative purpose and to avoid rendering any part of the legislation meaningless" (citations omitted). Healey v. Commissioner of Pub. Welfare, 414 Mass. 18, 25-26, 605 N.E.2d 279 (1992). See Tebo v. Board of Appeals of Shrewsbury, 22 Mass.App.Ct. 618, 627, 495 N.E.2d 892 (1986) ("an agency's powers are shaped by its organic statute taken as a whole"). General Laws c. 18, § 2(A), states that "the department shall provide and administer throughout the commonwealth a comprehensive public welfare financial assistance program, including the following services ... the determination of eligibility for the categorical public assistance provided under the Federal-State programs." Section 2(B) (a), explicitly authorizes the department to "formulate the policies, procedures and rules necessary for the full and efficient implementation of [public welfare financial assistance] programs" which are under the department's control, including the EA program. These statutory provisions are a "generous grant of rulemaking authority" from which an implication of the department's authority to adopt the challenged regulation is readily derived. See Massachusetts Respiratory Hosp. v. Department of Pub. Welfare, 414 Mass. 330, 334, 607 N.E.2d 1018 (1993). See also Berrios, supra at 595, 583 N.E.2d 856 ("all rational presumptions are to be made in favor of [a regulation's] validity" [citations omitted] ).

Nor does the language of the EA statute conflict with the department's authority to adopt the challenged regulation. See, e.g., Telles v. Commissioner of Ins., 410 Mass. 560, 564-565, 574 N.E.2d 359 (1991). The plaintiffs argue that we must read the use of the word "shall" in the phrase "such benefits shall include" as a legislative mandate requiring the provision of EA benefits to all families in need, thereby prohibiting the department from establishing eligibility criteria for the program. See supra, note 5. However, in this context, the word "shall" directs the department as to the type of benefits which must be made available under the EA program, and not as to the persons eligible to receive them. We also construe G.L. c. 18, § 2(D), in light of the language set forth in annual line item appropriations for the EA program. See Berrios, supra at 594, 583 N.E.2d 856. Specifically, the EA appropriations provide that "in promulgating, amending, or rescinding its regulations with respect to eligibility or benefits, and any other benefits under this program, the Department shall take into account the amounts available to it for expenditures by this item so as not to exceed the appropriation" (emphasis added). St.1995, c. 38, § 2, item 4403-2110 (Fiscal Year 1996 General Appropriation Act). See St. 1994, c. 60, § 2, item 4403-2110 (Fiscal Year 1995 General Appropriation Act) (same language). When read as an "harmonious whole," Healey, supra at 25-26, 605 N.E.2d 279, the statute and line item appropriations indicate the legislative intent to grant the department broad authority to establish eligibility criteria for EA, which is precisely what the challenged regulation does.

In establishing such eligibility criteria, the department still must fulfil its obligation under G.L. c. 18, § 2(B) (d), to provide assistance "on a fair, just and equitable basis." See, e.g., Correia v. Department of Pub. Welfare, 414 Mass. 157, 164, 605 N.E.2d 1233 (1993). The judge held that the challenged regulation violates that statutory obligation because it "results in a denial of [EA] benefits to many families who are not at 'fault' " for their homelessness. Although this may be true with respect to those families, we reiterate that to succeed on a facial challenge the plaintiffs must show not that the regulation is unfair as to some families, but rather that the regulation could never be applied on a "fair, just and equitable basis." See Purity Supreme, Inc. v. Attorney Gen., 380 Mass. 762, 776, 407 N.E.2d 297 (1980). The department asserts that the regulation is a rational and fair attempt to allocate limited resources so as to maximize EA benefits for those needy families who have not previously received substantial government benefits.

"It is within the discretion of an agency to determine priorities for allocation of resources among services where the enabling statute does not itself clearly establish particular priorities." Williams v. Secretary of Human Servs., 414 Mass. 551, 567, 609 N.E.2d 447 (1993). See Massachusetts Coalition for the...