Simpson v. Miller

• Decision Date: 17 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81 C 2985.,81 C 2985.
• Parties: Karen SIMPSON, Diane Brooks, Katie Walker, and Linda McCall, on behalf of themselves, their minor children, and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Jeffrey MILLER, Director, Illinois Department of Public Aid, in his official capacity, and the Illinois Department of Public Aid, a state agency, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

535 F. Supp. 1041

Karen SIMPSON, Diane Brooks, Katie Walker, and Linda McCall, on behalf of themselves, their minor children, and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Jeffrey MILLER, Director, Illinois Department of Public Aid, in his official capacity, and the Illinois Department of Public Aid, a state agency, Defendants.

No. 81 C 2985.

United States District Court, N. D. Illinois, E. D.

March 17, 1982.

Aviva Futorian, Debra Raskin, Diane Redleaf, Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs.

Ellen P. Brewin, Patrice Suberlak, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MARSHALL, District Judge.

I

Plaintiffs Karen Simpson, Diane Brooks, Katie Walker and Linda McCall, on behalf of themselves and their children, and also on behalf of the class of all persons similarly situated,¹ seek declaratory and injunctive relief against policies of the Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA) which allegedly deprive plaintiffs of benefits to which they are entitled under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976). This court's jurisdiction rests on 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (West Supp.1981).

II

Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-13 (1976 & West Supp.1981 & West Supp. Dec. 1981) is generally known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). This program is designed to enable families to survive the hardships of poverty. See 42 U.S.C. § 601 (1976). Under the program, participating states, such as Illinois, calculate a standard of need, and then compare that standard with the amount of income they calculate is available to a family eligible for assistance under the program. The difference is the basis for determining the amount of cash assistance the family will receive under the program. See 45 C.F.R. § 230.20(a)(2)-(3) (1981).

Under the formula used for determining the amount of AFDC assistance an eligible family will receive, the calculation of the income earned by the family's members is critical. The higher the family's income, the less assistance it receives. Prior to October 1, 1981, federal law required a state participating in the program to deduct from income or "disregard" all expenses of the family reasonably attributable to the earning of income, such as child care expenses necessitated by a mother's decision to leave her children with a paid child care provider while she goes to work. See 45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a)(7) (1981); see generally 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(7) (West Supp.1981). Effective October 1, 1981, federal law requires a state to disregard from the income of eligible family members an amount equal to the family's child care expenditures up to a ceiling of $160 per month, or a lesser amount that the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) might prescribe for recipients who work less than full time. See 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(8)(A)(iii) (West Supp. Dec. 1981). This change was part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Pub. L.No.97-35, 95 Stat. 357-933 (1981).

Throughout the period relevant to this action, Illinois has not deducted or "disregarded" child care expenses attributable to the earning of income from recipients' income. Instead, it has sought to eliminate those expenses by ensuring that AFDC recipients need not incur child care costs. One device employed by Illinois is to have recipients place their children in day care centers, which receive payment directly from Illinois. Approximately 5,800 recipients have children in centers and do not incur child care costs as a result. Plaintiffs do not challenge Illinois' actions with respect to these recipients, and such recipients are not members of the plaintiff class.

For recipients who do not have their children in day care centers which receive reimbursement in full from IDPA, Illinois seeks to eliminate child care expenses by reimbursing the recipients for their expenses. However, Illinois places four significant limitations on reimbursement.

(1) Illinois places absolute maximums, or caps, on the amounts of child care expense it will reimburse. These caps are significantly less than the $160 per month disregard currently called for by federal law. For example, the current cap for reimbursement in Cook County is approximately $132 per month.

(2) For child care provided either in a recipient's home, in a relative's home, or in a home which has applied for but not yet received a license as a child care provider under Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 23, § 2214 (1979), Illinois reduces the amounts it will reimburse even further, placing a cap of $94.60 per month on reimbursement.

(3) No reimbursement is provided for costs incurred when child care is received from a provider who is required to be licensed under Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 23, § 2214 (1979), and who has not sought or been approved for licensing.²

(4) No reimbursement is provided for costs incurred when the child care provider resides in the same home as the AFDC recipient.

Plaintiffs estimate, and have submitted material indicating, that of the some 32,000 AFDC recipients that do not leave their children at day care centers where care is fully paid for by IDPA, 70 percent receive no reimbursement at all from the state, although it appears that nearly all incur child care expenses. Even for the 30 percent who receive some reimbursement, there is no assurance that all their child care expenses prior to October 1, 1981, and their expenses up to $160 per month after October 1, 1981, will be reimbursed due to the four limitations placed on reimbursement. As a result, it appears that Illinois does not fully reimburse members of the plaintiff class for their expenses incurred in obtaining day care up to $160 per month currently, and prior to October 1, 1981, did not reimburse these expenses in full. This failure, it is alleged, is violative of rights secured by federal law of the plaintiff class, and therefore justifies injunctive and declaratory relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976). Plaintiffs have moved for summary judgment. In considering the motion, the court will construe all genuine issues of fact against plaintiffs.

III

As a participant in the AFDC program, Illinois must obey the provisions of the Social Security Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder. See King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 316-17, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 2132-33, 20 L.Ed.2d 1118 (1968); Nolan v. de Baca, 603 F.2d 810, 812 (10th Cir. 1979); Bourgeois v. Stevens, 532 F.2d 799, 802 (1st Cir. 1976). IDPA, which administers the program for Illinois, may not restrict the scope or coverage of the program in a manner inconsistent with federal law. Miller v. Youakim, 440 U.S. 125, 135, 99 S.Ct. 957, 964, 59 L.Ed.2d 194 (1979); Quern v. Mandley, 436 U.S. 725, 740, 98 S.Ct. 2068, 2077, 56 L.Ed.2d 658 (1978); Philbrook v. Glodgett, 421 U.S. 707, 719, 95 S.Ct. 1893, 1901, 44 L.Ed.2d 525 (1975); Burns v. Alcala, 420 U.S. 575, 578, 95 S.Ct. 1180, 1183, 43 L.Ed.2d 469 (1975); Townsend v. Swank, 404 U.S. 282, 285-86, 92 S.Ct. 502, 504-05, 30 L.Ed.2d 448 (1971). Therefore, Illinois may not refuse to compensate AFDC recipients for employment related child care expenses when required to do so by federal law. See Doe v. Gillman, 479 F.2d 646, 648 (8th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 947, 94 S.Ct. 3073, 41 L.Ed.2d 668 (1974) and 421 U.S. 920, 95 S.Ct. 1587, 43 L.Ed.2d 789 (1975); Arizona State Department of Public Welfare v. HEW, 449 F.2d 456, 470-71 (9th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 919, 92 S.Ct. 945, 30 L.Ed.2d 789 (1972). These principles have been codified in 45 C.F.R. § 233.10(a)(1)(ii) (1981), which states,

A State may:

(A) Provide more limited public assistance coverage than that provided by the Act only where the Social Security Act or its legislative history authorizes more limited coverage;

(B) Impose conditions upon applicants for and recipients of public assistance which, if not satisfied, result in the denial or termination of public assistance, if such conditions assist the State in the efficient administration of its public assistance programs or further an independent State welfare policy, and are not inconsistent with the provisions and purposes of the Social Security Act.

IDPA does not contend that its refusal to fully reimburse recipients for their day care costs prior to October 1, 1981, and in full up to $160 per month effective October 1, 1981, is explicitly authorized by either the Social Security Act or its legislative history.³ The conditions imposed by Illinois are clearly designed to either assist the state in the efficient administration of AFDC, or to further an independent state welfare policy and plaintiffs do not contend otherwise. Therefore, this case boils down to the question whether the failure to reimburse is "inconsistent with the provisions and purposes of the Social Security Act."⁴ Id.

IV

The first issue is the validity of IDPA's policy not to deduct child care expenses from its calculation of income, but rather to reimburse those expenses.

Under pre-October 1, 1981 law, the Social Security Act did not explicitly require a specific method by which states were required to deal with child care expenses. The statute merely stated that states "shall, in determining need, take into consideration" these expenses. 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(7) (West Supp.1981). By reimbursing these expenses, IDPA did exactly that. It is true that the AFDC regulations referred to a "disregard" of these expenses when determining income, see 45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a)(3)(iv)(a) & (7)(i) (1981), but if the sums were reimbursed, they could not have legitimately been considered "expenses." There was nothing inconsistent with the Social Security Act by reimbursing these expenses rather than deducting them from income. Riemer v. Hooker, 392 F.Supp. 145 (D.N.H.1975), see generally Engelman v. Amos, 404 U.S. 23, 92 S.Ct. 181, 30 L.Ed.2d 143 (1971) (per curiam).

With respect to post-...