Greene v. Com'R Mn Dept. of Human Services

• Citation: 755 N.W.2d 713
• Decision Date: 28 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. A06-804.,A06-804.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)
• Parties: Buddie GREENE, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF the MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Respondent, Aitkin County Health and Human Services, Respondent.

755 N.W.2d 713

Buddie GREENE, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF the MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Respondent, Aitkin County Health and Human Services, Respondent.

No. A06-804.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

August 28, 2008.

Frank Bibeau, Megan Treuer, Anishinabe Legal Services, Cass Lake, MN, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Margaret H. Chutich, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN; and James Ratz, Aitkin County Attorney, Sarah Elizabeth Winge, Assistant Aitkin County Attorney, Aitkin, MN, for respondents.

Mark A. Anderson, Sara K. VanNorman, Jacobson, Buffalo, Magnuson, Anderson & Hogen, PC, St. Paul, MN, for amicus curiae Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

Kim Mammedaty, Cass Lake, MN, for amicus curiae Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

OPINION

DIETZEN, Justice.

Buddie Greene, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (Tribe) living off the reservation in Aitkin County, challenges the reduction of her benefits under the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP). After Greene was referred to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe for employment services, she requested that she receive employment services through the County, and failed to participate in the tribal program. As a result, Greene's cash benefits were reduced. Following an administrative hearing, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (Commissioner) upheld the reduction of Greene's cash benefits. The district court affirmed the Commissioner's decision. On appeal, Greene argued that (1) the Commissioner improperly interpreted Minn.Stat § 256J.645 (2006) to require her to receive employment services through the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; and (2) section 256J.645 violates her rights to equal protection under the United States and Minnesota Constitutions. The court of appeals affirmed in a 2-1 decision. Greene v. Comm'r of Minn. Dep't of Human Servs., 733 N.W.2d 490 (Minn.App.2007). We granted review and affirm.

A. Regulatory Framework

This appeal concerns the administration of the Minnesota Family Investment Program by respondents Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services and Aitkin County Health and Human Services (County). MFIP is an economic support program for low-income families with children. See Minn.Stat. §§ 256J.001-.95 (2006). The program provides many forms of support to families in need, including financial assistance, food support, child care assistance, and employment services.

1. Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Act

MFIP is Minnesota's response to the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a federal block grant program replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Pub.L. No. 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105 (1996) (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). PRWORA made sweeping changes to federal welfare policy "by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage," 42 U.S.C. § 601(a) (2000), and by imposing a 60-month lifetime limit on assistance, 42 U.S.C. § 608(a)(7) (2000). PRWORA was intended "to increase the flexibility of States" in operating welfare programs by shifting responsibility for the administration of the programs to the states. 42 U.S.C. § 601(a).

State TANF programs are funded with both state and federal money. The TANF block grant from the federal government has an annual cost-sharing requirement for states. 42 U.S.C. § 603 (2000). States must spend the money to help eligible families in ways consistent with the TANF program. See id.; 42 U.S.C. §§ 604, 607-08 (2000).¹

Under PRWORA, federally recognized Indian tribes are eligible to create and administer their own TANF programs. 42 U.S.C. § 612 (2000). If a tribal plan is approved by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the tribe receives federal funds out of the state's federal TANF block grant allocation. 42 U.S.C. § 612(a)(1)(A). Like states, tribes may use their TANF funding in any manner reasonably calculated to accomplish the purposes of TANF, but tribal TANF programs have more flexibility. See 42 U.S.C. § 612(a)(3)(C)(ii). Tribes generally are allowed to determine their own TANF eligibility criteria, work participation requirements, benefit standards, service populations, and sanctions for noncompliance. U.S. Gen. Accounting Office, Welfare Reform: Tribal TANF Allows Flexibility to Tailor Programs, but Conditions on Reservation Make It Difficult to Move Recipients into Jobs 5, 24-31 (2002).

PRWORA broke new ground by providing federally recognized Indian tribes with the opportunity to create and administer their own welfare programs. Under AFDC, tribal members had to enroll in state welfare programs. U.S. Gen. Accounting Office, supra, at 4. Some tribal organizations heralded PRWORA as "the United States Government's strongest recognition yet of Indian sovereignty." Pam Belluck, Tribes' New Power Over Welfare May Come at Too High a Price, N.Y. Times, Sept. 9, 1997, at A1. PRWORA does not require states to contribute money or other support to tribal programs in their states. As a result, many tribes, including the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, have not set up their own TANF programs. Id.² PRWORA ensures, nonetheless, that states provide assistance to tribal members who are not eligible to participate in a tribal TANF program. See 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(5) (2000) (requiring states to provide each member of an Indian tribe, who is not eligible for assistance under a tribal TANF program, "with equitable access to assistance under the State program").

2. Minnesota Family Investment Program

In 1997, Minnesota enacted legislation to implement the requirements of TANF. Act of Apr. 30, 1997, ch. 85, art. 1, 1997 Minn. Laws 499, 499-587 (codified at Minn. Stat. ch. 256J (1998)). One provision requires county governments to "cooperate with tribal governments in the implementation of MFIP." Minn.Stat. § 256J.315. This cooperation includes "the sharing of MFIP duties," such as "initial screening, orientation, assessments, and provision of employment and training services." Id. The statute further provides that county agencies "shall encourage tribal governments to assume duties related to MFIP and shall work cooperatively with tribes that have assumed responsibility for a portion of the MFIP program to expand tribal responsibilities, if that expansion is requested by the tribe." Id.

To facilitate tribal involvement in MFIP, the Commissioner is expressly authorized to enter into agreements with federally recognized Indian tribes or a consortium of tribes to provide employment services to their members. Minn.Stat. § 256J.645, subd. 1.³ Under these agreements, the tribes assume the responsibility for providing employment services to their eligible members. See id., subd. 2. To effectuate these agreements, MFIP provides that "Indian tribal members receiving MFIP benefits and residing in the service area of an Indian tribe operating employment services under an agreement with the commissioner must be referred by county agencies in the service area to the Indian tribe for employment services." Id., subd. 4 (emphasis added). The interpretation and effect of this referral language is at the center of the dispute in this case.

Agreements to provide employment services to tribal members benefit the Indian tribes, as well as their members. The tribes benefit by receiving funds to develop and provide MFIP services to their members when there are insufficient resources to develop and administer tribal TANF programs. Indian tribes that enter into agreements with the state receive funding at the same levels and under the same conditions as counties that provide these services. See Minn.Stat. § 256J.645, subd. 3; Minn.Stat. § 256J.62. Tribal members also benefit by receiving culturally appropriate services. It is clear that tribal implementation of the employment services programs and other aspects of MFIP are intended to provide flexibility so that tribes can address the specific cultural needs of their members; the stated purpose of encouraging tribal involvement in the implementation of MFIP is "to ensure that the program meets the special needs of persons living on Indian reservations." Minn.Stat. § 256J.315. MFIP generally gives the tribes discretion to "use the funds for any allowable expenditures." Minn.Stat. § 256J.626, subd. 1. Therefore, tribes have access to state and federal funds to provide services that are tailored to the unique conditions in their tribal communities.

Pursuant to section 256J.645, the State of Minnesota and the Tribe entered into a Reservation Grant Contract. Under the contract, the Tribe agreed to provide an employment services program for members in the Tribe's service area. The contract provides that the Tribe "shall provide Tribal program services to persons who are eligible for such services."

B. The Application for MFIP Benefits

In July 2004, appellant Buddie Greene applied through Aitkin County to receive MFIP benefits for herself and her child. See Minn.Stat. § 256J.09, subd. 1 (providing that a person applying for TANF assistance must submit an application to the county agency in the county where that person lives). There is no dispute that Greene was eligible to receive MFIP benefits. As part of the application process, Greene signed a tribal membership form indicating that she is enrolled or eligible for enrollment in the Tribe through the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Because Greene is a tribal member and resides in the tribal service area, the County referred her to the Tribe for employment services. Subsequently, Greene asked the Tribe to refer her to the County for employment services. The Tribe declined on the ground that it was "mandated to provide" her with services and could not refer her elsewhere.

Greene refused to participate in the tribal employment services program. Under MFIP, participation in an employment...