Multnomah County v. Luihn et al.

• Decision Date: 10 March 1947
• Citation: 180 Or. 528,178 P.2d 159
• Parties: MULTNOMAH COUNTY <I>v.</I> LUIHN ET AL.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

180 Or. 528

178 P.2d 159

MULTNOMAH COUNTY

v. LUIHN ET AL.

Supreme Court of Oregon.

Argued February 25, 1947.

Modified March 10, 1947.

Paupers — Social security — Grants

1. The state-wide administrative plan entitling the state under federal Social Security Act to make grants in aid of state programs of certain types of public assistance is mandatory upon counties.

Paupers — Statutes — Construction

2. Requirements of State Welfare Commission as set out in the statute defining the powers and duties of the commission are a legislative declaration of intention to place the state in position to take advantage of the benefits tendered under the federal Social Security Act, and the state statute should be construed in relation to the purposes and objectives of that act.

Paupers — Administration of Social Security Act

3. Sections of federal Social Security Act requiring state administrative plan for old-age assistance, for the blind, and for dependent children, to be of state-wide application and administered by a single state agency and approved by appropriate federal authority in order to entitle state to a grant in aid, refer only to administration of public assistance under approved state plans, and, while requiring participation by the states upon a matching basis, impose no obligations upon the state with reference to the manner or means whereby they shall raise the moneys for their contribution to the co-operative scheme.

Statutes — Construction

4. Statutes bearing upon the same subject are to be construed in pari materia.

Taxation — Legislative power

5. The power to tax is a legislative power and cannot be delegated to an administrative body.

Taxation — Legislative power

6. The Legislature may delegate its authority to tax to municipal corporations for the purpose of carrying out the ends for which such corporations as political subdivisions of the state are organized.

Taxation — Legislative power — Delegation

7. There may be delegated to an administrative officer, board, or tribunal some aspects of the taxing process, if in making such delegation the Legislature retains sufficient and proper control over those aspects which are not delegable, and if a sufficient guide or standard is laid down by the Legislature for the guidance of the administrative officials.

Constitutional law — Legislative power — Delegation

8. The Legislature, having made a law, may delegate to some administrative body the power to determine the existence of a state of facts upon which the operation of the law depends, and the determination of the existence of such a state of facts is an "administrative function", and not a "legislative function".

Taxation — Theory of taxation

9. Taxation proceeds upon the theory that the existence of government is a necessity, that it cannot continue without means to pay its expenses, and that for those means it has the right to compel all citizens and property within its limits to contribute.

Paupers — Public assistance

10. The board of county commissioners of Multnomah county is not required to include in its annual budget, as the county's proportion of the total cost of public assistance administered by or under the supervision of the State Welfare Commission, such sums as the State Welfare Commission may direct, but has discretion and may consider, in determining what sums it shall budget for such purposes, the availability of funds, the necessity of providing moneys to meet other requirements of county government, and the constitutional limitations upon county's power to levy taxes.

Paupers — Common law

11. There is no obligation at common law upon the state or its political subdivisions to furnish relief for the poor.

Paupers — Statutory duty

12. Where a statute makes it the duty of local authorities to provide for indigent persons, such duty is mandatory and must be strictly complied with.

Paupers — Duty of county court

13. The statutes authorizing and empowering county courts to make various provisions for poor persons impose no mandatory duty upon county courts to furnish relief to poor persons, but vest them with a measure of discretion as to whether they will grant such relief.

Paupers — Public assistance

14. The statutes requiring county welfare commission, in determining amount of any award of public assistance administered by or under the supervision of the State Welfare Commission, to take into account the income, resources, and maintenance available to the individual, did not include hospitalization facilities which Multnomah county, in the discretion of its board of county commissioners, might make available to an applicant for public assistance.

Paupers — Hospital care

15. Neither the State Welfare Commission nor the county welfare commission of Multnomah county is liable to the county for hospitalization, treatment, or care furnished to recipients of special aid rendered in accordance with state plan adopted to take advantage of the benefits tendered under the federal Social Security Act unless, with the approval of the State Welfare Commission, previous agreement that the county shall be remunerated in such cases has been effected between the county welfare commission and the county.

                  See 41 Am. Jur. 707; 48 C.J., Paupers, § 241
                

Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County.

MARTIN W. HAWKINS, Judge.

Rex Kimmell, Assistant Attorney General, of Salem (with George Neuner, Attorney General, and Catharine Carson Barsch, Assistant Attorney General, both of Salem, on brief), for appellants.

Frank S. Sever and Lamar Tooze, both of Portland (with John B. McCourt, District Attorney, and Stanley Jones, Deputy District Attorney, both of Portland, on brief), for respondent.

Before ROSSMAN, Chief Justice, and LUSK, BELT, BAILEY, HAY and WINSLOW, Justices.

AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.

HAY, J.

This suit was instituted by Multnomah County, a public corporation and political subdivision of the State of Oregon, for itself and in behalf of other counties of the state similarly situated, against the defendants, who comprise the State Public Welfare Commission. The plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment defining in certain respects the powers, obligations and liabilities of counties, on the one hand, and of the State Public Welfare Commission and the County Public Welfare Commissions, on the other, under the provisions of portions of the state laws codified under the title of State Welfare and Institutions Code (specifically, sections 126-101 to 126-444, inclusive, and 126-601 to 126-626, inclusive, O.C.L.A.)

Multnomah County will be referred to herein as "the county", the State Public Welfare Commission as "the state welfare commission", and Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission as "the county welfare commission".

Other terms used herein are defined as follows: "Public assistance" means all types of public aid administered by or under the supervision of the state welfare commission. "Special aid" refers to and includes old-age assistance, aid to dependent children, and aid to the needy blind. "Old-age assistance" means public aid provided, under the provisions of sections 301, et seq., chapter 7, title 42, U.S.C.A., and sections 126-601 to 126-626, inclusive, O.C.L.A., as amended, to certain persons who have attained the age of sixty-five years. "Aid to dependent children" means public aid provided, under the provisions of sections 601, et seq., chapter 7, title 42 U.S.C.A., and sections 126-301 to 126-312, inclusive, O.C.L.A., to certain children under the age of sixteen years. "Aid to the needy blind" means public aid provided, under the provisions of sections 1201, et seq., chapter 7, title 42, U.S.C.A., and sections 126-401 to 126-423, inclusive, O.C.L.A., to certain blind persons or persons with defective vision. "General assistance" means public aid provided to needy persons not qualified under the law to receive assistance under any of the three forms of special aid above mentioned. "County court" and "board of county commissioners" may be regarded as interchangeable terms, and mean the governing body of any county.

Two grounds of controversy have arisen between the parties. Under the first, the county contends that its governing body, the board of county commissioners, is not required to include in its annual budget, as the county's proportion of the total cost of public assistance, such sums as the state welfare commission may direct, but, on the contrary, has discretion in the premises, and may take into consideration, in determining what sums it shall budget for such purposes, the availability of funds, the necessity of providing moneys to meet other requirements of county government, and the limitations imposed by section 11, Article XI, Oregon Constitution. The state welfare commission, for its part, maintains that its estimate of the amount required to pay the county's share of expenditures for public assistance constitutes a proper and mandatory item of county expense, which the governing body of the county is obliged to include in the county budget and for which it must levy a sufficient tax.

In the second controversy, the county contends that it may require the state welfare commission to reimburse it for the cost of hospitalization and of domiciliary care of persons receiving old-age assistance, aid to the needy blind, and aid to dependent children (i.e., special aids), when such persons have been certified by the commission or its agencies to county hospitals or other county institutions for treatment or maintenance. The commission contends (1) that it has no authority to furnish financial aid in the form of old-age assistance, aid to dependent children, or aid to the needy blind to any inmate of a county hospital, county farm, or other county institution; (2) that it has no authority to pay the county the cost of domiciliary care or hospital treatment in its institutions at a greater rate per person so cared for than it would be...