Meek v. Martinez, 87-1233-CIV.
| Decision Date | 21 February 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-1233-CIV.,87-1233-CIV. |
| Citation | 724 F. Supp. 888 |
| Parties | State Senator Carrie MEEK, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Governor Bob MARTINEZ, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Jean Camper Cahn, Luis Fernandez, William E. Adams, Legal Svs. of Greater Miami, Inc., Chesterfield Smith, Marilyn Holifield, Miami, Fla., Filiberto Agusto, Steven Reed, Anita Lichtblau, Jonathan Cahn, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs.
Steven A. Steiglitz, Marcia Rosen, Debra S. Kornbluh, State of Fla., Dept. of Health & Rehabilitation Services, Miami, Fla., William E. Whitley, Gainesville, Fla., Robert M. Hustead, Homestead, Fla., for defendants.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
THIS CAUSE came on for trial before the Court on September 8-9, 1987. The following constitutes the Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
I. FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Federal funding to the states for nutrition and other services for the elderly is authorized under Title III of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended (hereinafter "OAA"). (The term "Title III" hereinafter refers to Title III of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended).
2. The federal funding described in paragraph 1, supra, is distributed through grants to the states from the Federal Administration on Aging, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
3. From the funds appropriated by Congress for grants under Title III, each state is allotted an amount based on the state's population age 60 and older in proportion to the national population age 60 and over.
4. In Florida for federal Fiscal Year (hereafter "FFY") 1987 the amount described in paragraph 3 is in excess of $40 million.
5. The State of Florida has designated the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (hereinafter "DHRS") as the state agency responsible under the Older Americans Act for developing the State Plan, administering the State Plan, and coordinating all State activities related to the Older Americans Act.
6. Gregory Coler is the Secretary of DHRS.
7. As Secretary of DHRS, Gregory Coler is responsible for overseeing and has authority over the Aging and Adult Services Program Office within DHRS and its director.
8. Margaret Lynn Duggar is Director of the Aging and Adult Services Program Office within DHRS.
9. Within DHRS the primary responsibility for administering the Title III program is delegated to the Aging and Adult Services Program Office.
10. The State has designated the Aging and Adult Services Program Office as the official State Unit on Aging with respect to administering the State's obligations under the OAA.
11. The OAA requires the State Agency on Aging, DHRS to, inter alia, divide the state into planning and service areas (hereinafter "AAA") in each PSA; develop a formula for distribution within the state of funds received under Title III; and prepare and submit a State Plan to the Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging.
12. The term "PSA" means planning and service area, as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 3022(5).
13. The term "Florida State Plan" refers to the plan submitted by the State of Florida as required by the OAA as a condition of receiving Title III funds for services to the elderly. This plan, inter alia, sets forth the State's method and rationale for distribution of Title III funds among the PSAs.
14. The current Florida State Plan is the Florida State Plan on Aging, 1987-90.
15. Bob Martinez is Governor of the State of Florida.
16. The Governor or his designee must approve the State Plan prior to its submission to the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Aging.
17. The State of Florida allocates funds for Title III Services among the PSAs through the use of an "intrastate funding formula" and distributes Title III funds for administration of programs through an "administrative formula."
18. Margaret Lynn Dugger, as Director of the Aging and Adult Services Program Office, supervises the professional staff, who have responsibility for the submission and authorship of the State Plan, and the coordination of Title III funds and programs.
19. There are eleven (11) AAAs within Florida corresponding to each of the eleven (11) Florida PSAs.
20. Each AAA is responsible for developing an area plan for the respective PSA in which the AAA is located. The area plans describes, inter alia, the programs which the AAA proposes to support with the Title III funding it will receive.
21. The AAAs submit these area plans to the HRS District Offices for approval and to the Office of Aging and Adult Services Program Office for review.
22. After approval of area plans, each AAA receives Title III funds from the State which are used to implement the Title III programs set forth in the area plans.
23. Upon approval of the area plan and execution of a contract with the State providing for receipt of Title III funds, a AAA may execute agreements with service providers.
24. Service providers are those entities which contract with the AAA to provide the types of services to the elderly provided for under Title III and described in the respective area plans.
25. The State of Florida adopted the existing intrastate funding formula for service monies in 1979.
26. The existing intrastate formula has not been changed since its adoption.
27. The intrastate funding formula presently used by the State of Florida for distribution of service monies under Title III of the Older Americans Act distributes Title III service monies to PSAs based on three factors: (1) the estimated number of persons residing in each PSA aged 60 years and above who are below the poverty level (hereinafter "60+ BPL"); (2) the estimated number of persons residing in each PSA who are 65 years of age or older and who live alone or with non-relatives (i.e. are "primary individuals") (hereinafter "65+ Living Alone"); and (3) the estimated number of persons residing in each PSA who are 75 years of age or older (hereinafter "75+").
28. "Below the poverty level" as used in the intrastate funding formula means the poverty level as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
29. The State's rationale for use of the 60+ BPL factor is that this factor is intended as an indicator of the proportion of the State's elderly population residing in each PSA who are in greatest economic need.
30. The State's rationale for use of the 65+ Living Alone factor is that this factor is intended as an indicator of the proportion of the State's elderly population residing in each PSA who are socially isolated.
31. The State's rationale for use of the 75+ factor is that this factor is intended as an indicator of the proportion of the State's elderly population residing in each PSA who are frail elderly.
32. The current administrative formula which is used to distribute OAA funds to the PSAs for administrative costs is based on the following four factors, each with a weighting factor of 25%: (1) the number of persons age 60 and over in the PSA; (2) the number of counties in the PSA; (3) the dollar amount of OAA, Title III funds in the PSA; and (4) the dollar amount of funds allocated to the PSA under the Community Care for the Elderly program, a state funded program. The amount indicated by the formula is in addition to a base amount per district of $95,000. State Plan at IV-6. Prior to 1987, the administrative formula did not include the number of counties factor, but did include two other factors — number of square miles and number of service provider contracts administered.
33. The primary source of demographic data used by the State in allocating Title III funds to the respective PSAs is the 1980 National Census, which is periodically updated by the Florida Consensus Estimating Conference (hereinafter "FCEC"). The State uses the FCEC estimates of the state population by age and by county in applying its allocation formula.
34. The methodology DHRS uses to update the Florida Consensus Estimating Conference data for use with the intrastate funding formula is:
The population projections published by the Florida Concensus Estimating Conference provide the basic figures by age and by county. The populations in poverty and living alone are then computed by applying a percentage from the 1980 Census, which identified the number of individuals in these categories, to the new population projections.
35. DHRS uses a team for budget and policy decisions called the Budget Entity Team (hereinafter "BET"), which is a team composed of personnel from DHRS's three main branches: administration, planning and operations.
36. The BET is chaired by Defendant Margaret Lynn Duggar, and its membership includes, among others, Defendant June Noel.
37. On May 10, 1986, as the result of a decision made by the BET and approved by the relevant DHRS authorities, information and recommendations on removal of the hold harmless policy were sent by the DHRS Aging and Adult Services Program Office to HRS District Offices and AAAs.
38. Florida's 1986 Appropriations Act adopted by the State Legislature in June, 1986 included proviso language regarding the OAA intrastate funding formula. That proviso language states in pertinent part:
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
P.R. Office of the Ombudsman v. Puerto Rico
... ... under § 1983 because its standards are too amorphous to be judicially enforceable); Martinez v. Wilson, 32 F.3d 1415, 1420 (9th Cir.1994) (same) ... This Court's conclusion ... Meek v. Martinez, 724 F.Supp. 888, 901 (S.D.Fla.1987) (citing 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 2974, ... ...
-
City of Chicago v. Lindley, s. 94-3506
... ... at 360-61, 112 S.Ct. at 1368-69; see also Martinez v. Wilson, 32 F.3d 1415, 1420 (9th Cir.1994) ("The 1992 amendments to [the OAA] plainly give the ... Therefore, the City, as an area agency on aging, has standing to raise its OAA claim. See Meek v. Martinez, 724 F.Supp. 888, 901 (S.D.Fla.1987) ("[T]he [area agency on aging] is more than a ... ...
-
APPALACHIAN AGENCY FOR SR. CITIZENS v. Bland, Civ. A. No. 88-0123-B.
... ... § 3026(a)(6)(D). Consequently, as stated in Meek v. Martinez, 724 F.Supp. 888, 901 (S.D.Fla.1987), "the AAA is within the zone of interests ... ...
-
Board of Sup'rs of Warren County v. VA. DSS
... ... Of some interest to the present case is the decision in Meek v. Martinez, 724 F.Supp. 888 (S.D.Fla.1987). In Meek, a number of plaintiffs challenged ... ...