Lampton v. Bonin, Civ. A. No. 68-2092.

• Decision Date: 16 July 1969
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 68-2092.
• Citation: 304 F. Supp. 1384
• Parties: Shirley LAMPTON and Luethel Williams, individually and on behalf of their minor children, and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Garland L. BONIN, individually, and in his capacity as Commissioner of Public Welfare of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; Camille Adams, individually, and in his capacity as Chairman of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; John J. McKeithen, individually, and in his capacity as Governor and Ex-Officio member of the Louisiana Board of Public Welfare; Lawrence Morel, Howard Gruenberg, J. Grady Madden, Mary Lou Winters, Joseph D. Hair, Jr., John D. Sittig, and Matt Milam, Jr., individually, and in their capacities as members of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; and Doris Culver, individually and as Director of the Orleans Parish Department of Welfare, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

304 F. Supp. 1384

Shirley LAMPTON and Luethel Williams, individually and on behalf of their minor children, and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Garland L. BONIN, individually, and in his capacity as Commissioner of Public Welfare of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; Camille Adams, individually, and in his capacity as Chairman of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; John J. McKeithen, individually, and in his capacity as Governor and Ex-Officio member of the Louisiana Board of Public Welfare; Lawrence Morel, Howard Gruenberg, J. Grady Madden, Mary Lou Winters, Joseph D. Hair, Jr., John D. Sittig, and Matt Milam, Jr., individually, and in their capacities as members of the Louisiana State Board of Public Welfare; and Doris Culver, individually and as Director of the Orleans Parish Department of Welfare, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 68-2092.

United States District Court E. D. Louisiana, New Orleans Division.

July 16, 1969.

Jeffrey B. Schwartz, T. A., Richard A. Buckley and Robert Glass, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, La., William P. Schuler, 2nd, Asst. Atty. Gen., Henry J. Roberts, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., Dorothy D. Wolbrette, New Orleans, La., Horace Pepper, Gen. Counsel, La. Dept. of Public Welfare, Baton Rouge, La., St. John Barrett, Acting Gen. Counsel, Joel Cohen, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Myron Berman, Frances

White, Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare, Washington, D. C., Louis C. LaCour, U. S. Atty., New Orleans, La., for defendants.

Before WISDOM, Circuit Judge, and CASSIBRY and COMISKEY, District Judges.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge:

This case began as a class action seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to prevent the Louisiana Department of Public Welfare from making a ten percent reduction in aid to families with dependent children.¹ This Court discussed the factual and legal issues in an opinion by Judge Comiskey issued April 15, 1969, 299 F.Supp. 336; Judge Cassibry dissented. Louisiana's welfare appropriation, as set out in Act 9 of 1968, was effective until June 30, 1969. July 1, 1969, was the deadline fixed by Congress for action by the states to adjust their standard of need for dependent children to reflect fully changes in living costs since the adoption of the standard. See Section 402(a) (23) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 602(a) (23). The Louisiana legislature was to begin its fiscal session in May 1969. Accordingly, a majority of the Court held that it was premature to reach the merits of the action. In our earlier opinion we said: "We cannot say at this time whether or not Louisiana will devote additional funds to ADC for the new cost of living increases in the new appropriations bill. We certainly cannot tell what Louisiana will do after July 1 from an appropriation bill which expires on June 30." The Court retained jurisdiction of the case.

July 1 has come and gone. The Louisiana legislature met and adjourned without increasing the level of payments to families with dependent children. The Department raised its standard of need to reflect a twenty percent rise in living costs — but reduced its actual ADC payments. It did so by abolishing its system of dollar maximums and by instituting a ratable reduction of 42.13 percent against each recipient family's budgetary deficit.²

The plaintiffs contend that this action of the Department violates Section 402 (a) (23) of the Social Security Act. A majority of the court, however, feel compelled to hold that if the State of Louisiana decides to supply only half of the amount dependent children admittedly need for a bare subsistence, the State may do so without violating the Act.

* * *

Under Title IV of the Social Security Act, Congress, through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) contributes federal funds to the states for their programs of furnishing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC or ADC). Federal aid in Louisiana amounts to nearly eighty percent of the total costs of the ADC program.

Section 402(a) (23) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (23), one of the 1967 amendments to the Act, provides, as follows:

"A state plan for aid and services to needy families with children must * * * provide that by July 1, 1969, 1 the amounts used by the State to determine the needs of individuals will have been adjusted to reflect fully changes in living costs since such amounts were established, and 2 any maximums that the State imposes on the amount of aid paid to families will have been proportionately adjusted."

The question for decision is whether the second clause of this provision, as a condition to HEW approval of federal participation in the ADC program, prohibits the State from decreasing its ADC payments and, in addition, requires the State to increase its payments to reflect fully the changes in living costs since the level of payments were established.

Until July 1, 1969, the Louisiana Department of Public Welfare used dollar maximums for payments to recipients. For example, a mother and a dependent child were limited to $80 a month. A family of five or more received maximum aid of $163 a month.

Just prior to July 1, 1969, the Department redetermined the standard of need and increased it by 20 percent to reflect the increase in the costs of living up to May 1968.³ All agree that the first clause of Section 402(a) (23) requires an increase in the standard of need. All also agree that the State may give less than 100 percent of the standard of need. The dispute is over the meaning of the clause that refers to "any maximums".

At the time the Department increased the standard of need, it abolished dollar maximums. The defendants contend, therefore, and so the statute seems, literally, to say, that the State need not increase the ADC payments to reflect the rise in the costs of living when there are no longer any arbitrary maximums to adjust. Here, instead of making upward adjustments, the State made a ratable reduction in its ADC payments. The Department determined the budgetary deficit of each recipient family and made a ratable reduction against each budgetary deficit of 42.13 percent. The payments to be made, therefore, will amount to only 57.87 percent of the budgetary deficits. This reduction was made necessary by the fact that the Louisiana Legislature, which has recently concluded its fiscal session, rejected the Department's budget request for $17,320,000 and appropriated only $9,043,000 for the State's 1969-1970 fiscal year. (The federal matching share now added to the state share of ADC grants for Louisiana's appropriation is $38,800.00.)

We recognize the merit in the plaintiffs' arguments. The dissenting opinion ably supports the plaintiffs' position. So, too, do two decisions: Rosado v. Wyman, E.D.N.Y.1969, 304 F.Supp. 1356; Jefferson v. Hackney, N.D.Tex.1969, 304 F.Supp. 1332. The plaintiffs contend, in effect, that the defendants' construction of the statute puts Congress in the old shell game: now you see it, now you don't. First, Congress requires the States to redetermine need and maximums to reflect rising costs of living. Then, Congress permits the States to make deep cuts in actual payments far below the level of need and the prior payments without taking into consideration rising costs of living. Moreover Congress gave the states eighteen months to make these adjustments in order to allow the state legislatures an opportunity to convene in their regular sessions and make the appropriate adjustments in their AFDC programs. This is a semantic ploy or exercise in book-keeping that Congress would not engage in, the plaintiffs say. The fact is, however, that the statute is clear on its face. There are doubts as to its meaning only because Section 402(a) (23) produces pitifully inadequate results in a period of rising costs of living and skyrocketing demands on the States to meet all their budgetary deficits.

The determination of a standard of need is different from meeting the need. Every dependent family in Louisiana knows this now, whether or not the family comprehends the reason for the state's reducing its grants. If Congress had intended to require the states to put a floor on current levels of aid and to increase payments to reflect the increase in the costs of living, it would have been obvious to Congress that such requirements would cost the federal government and the states several hundred million dollars and perhaps as much as five hundred million dollars. A bill clearly having this effect would have been a burning issue on the floors of the House and the Senate.

Section 402(a) (23) was enacted by section 213(b) of P.L. 90-248, 81 Stat. 898 in the committee reports, most of the attention was given to Section 213 (a). That section amended the "adult" titles to allow states at their option to disregard not more than $7.50 a month. Thus, the Senate Report, under the heading "Increasing the benefits for the aged", discussed the provision for the adult categories at some length, then added noncommittally,

"States would be required to price their standards used for determining the amount of assistance under the AFDC program by July 1, 1969 and to reprice them at least annually thereafter, adjusting the standards and any maximums imposed on payments to reflect changes in living costs." S.Rep. No. 744, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 170 (1967), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 1967, p. 3007.

In the summary of principal provisions of the bill, the report refers only to the provision for the adult categories, and is silent on the ADC provision. S.Rep. No. 744, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 29 (1967). The Conference Report, under the heading "Increasing income of recipients of assistance", reflected only the changes that had been made in Conference. On ADC, it stated

"Under the agreement, the new section 402(a) provision (for adjustments to reflect living costs) would require States to make only

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