Theriault v. Brennan, Civ. No. 80-0046 P.

• Citation: 488 F. Supp. 286
• Decision Date: 26 March 1980
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 80-0046 P.
• Parties: Marie THERIAULT, of Presque Isle, County of Aroostook, State of Maine and Elin McKinneon, of Surry, County of Hancock, State of Maine, on their own behalves and on behalf of all those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. The Honorable Joseph E. BRENNAN, Governor of the State of Maine; Timothy P. Wilson, Director, Division of Community Services; their employees, agents, assigns and successors in office; and the State of Maine, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

488 F. Supp. 286

Marie THERIAULT, of Presque Isle, County of Aroostook, State of Maine and Elin McKinneon, of Surry, County of Hancock, State of Maine, on their own behalves and on behalf of all those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. The Honorable Joseph E. BRENNAN, Governor of the State of Maine; Timothy P. Wilson, Director, Division of Community Services; their employees, agents, assigns and successors in office; and the State of Maine, Defendants.

Civ. No. 80-0046 P.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

March 26, 1980.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Susan W. Calkins, Lucinda E. White, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc., Portland, Me., John Whitehouse Cobb, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc., Bangor, Me., for plaintiffs.

Rufus Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., Augusta, Me., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

MITCHELL, District Judge.

This action for declaratory and injunctive relief was brought on February 6, 1980 by two Maine citizens who have received assistance under the Energy Crisis Assistance Program (ECAP), a federal program designed to help low-income persons meet the burden of increased energy costs during this winter heating season. The suit challenges Defendants' administration of the program, particularly (1) their failure to maximize the fund of available monies by implementing a related state program enacted by the Maine Legislature as a part of the Emergency Home Heating Act of 1979 (hereinafter the State Act), and (2) their failure to provide, consistent with federal constitutional due process guarantees, the emergency assistance and written notice of denial of that assistance to which Plaintiffs are entitled by state and federal statutes and regulations.

On February 8, 1980, following a hearing on the motions, the Court denied Plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order and reserved decision on Plaintiffs' motion seeking class certification and on Defendants' motion to dismiss. On March 13 and 14, 1980, a hearing was held on Plaintiffs' application for preliminary injunction, consolidated with trial on the merits pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 65(a)(2). On March 25, Plaintiffs' motion seeking class certification was granted.

I. The Facts

For the past four winters Maine has participated in ECAP programs conducted under the auspices of the federal Community Services Administration (CSA) pursuant to the powers granted that agency by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq. In each of the three previous years, under the Emergency Energy Conservation Service provisions of the federal statute, 42 U.S.C. § 2809(a)(5), CSA channeled roughly $3 million, out of its total $250 million emergency energy allotment, to Maine's Division of Community Services (DCS) for disbursement among eligible recipients. Each year the money arrived considerably after the close of the winter heating season.

Because of their concern that the federal program for this winter would continue at the same level of funding and would again be late, the Governor and DCS Director Wilson in early October urged the Legislature to enact supplementary legislation that would assist Maine's low-income households to meet the crisis expected to result this year from an anticipated severe winter and the soaring cost of energy. In their appearances before the Appropriations Committee of the Legislature Defendants and their representatives made it clear that they were seeking only to supplement the federal program and publicly committed themselves to (1) using federal funds first, and (2) not fully implementing the State Act if the amount of federal funds available increased substantially over what was then anticipated. The Legislature responded on October 11, 1979 by passing the State Act which contained, in Section 2, this statement of legislative purpose:

There is reason to believe that federal programs designed to cope with this problem will not be in effect, not be adequately funded or both, in a timely and appropriate manner to meet the needs of Maine's low-income households for this coming winter.

Accordingly, the immediate purpose of this legislation is to supplement federal programs aimed at lessening the impact of high energy costs . . . on low-income households.

The Act "established a one-time special Home Heating Crisis Assistance Program for 3 months of the winter of 1979-80." That program, described in Section 6 and funded entirely with state money, is being implemented and is not a subject of this action.

Additionally, a special program to provide "Emergency assistance for certain households receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children and for other low-income families with children" was set forth in Section 8 of the Act. It authorized a $1.5 million allocation to the State's Department of Human Services (DHS), on the basis of which DHS was to obtain matching funds from the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), the total to be disbursed among certain qualifying low-income Maine households. Both Sections 6 and 8 contained eligibility restrictions which made them mutually exclusive and made them both exclusive of ECAP. Thus, a household certified as eligible for assistance under ECAP or under Section 6 was ineligible for assistance under Section 8; a household certified as eligible for assistance under ECAP or under Section 8 was ineligible for assistance under Section 6.

Emphasizing the Act's supplemental nature, the Legislature required, in Section 5.4, that "If a household qualifies under both federal and state programs, federal funds or federally matched funds shall be used before state funds." The Legislature required, in Section 6.2.B(1)(d), that "Assistance provided shall be made available to the household in no fewer than 2 installments, 2 of which shall be made no sooner than 30 days apart. The first installment shall be made available on December 14, 1979 or as soon as practicable after the date the household is certified eligible, whichever date comes later." Although the federal regulations governing the ECAP program¹ contained no comparable provision, because the entire energy assistance program in Maine was administered by DCS in a unified manner the 30-day rule was applied to all recipients in an effort to minimize administrative problems.

The Act required, in Section 6.3.G, that applicants denied assistance be given reasons for the denial in writing.² Since an applicant eligible for assistance was to be certified only once, even though paid in more than one installment, the State rules³ were applied so as to require written reasons for denial only to denials of initial certification.⁴ Those rules also provided that an applicant could be treated as an emergency case only once,⁵ this to reduce the processing backlog created by the fact that emergency applications required more processing than non-emergency applications, and because of the belief of those administering the program that some persons claiming emergencies may have done so falsely while others, principally elderly applicants, actually in an emergency may not have so claimed.

Both the federal regulations and the State Act contained "Maintenance of Effort" provisions. Since compliance with this federal requirement is at the heart of this action, a brief explanation here is appropriate.

Maintenance of Effort is a mechanism by which the federal government seeks to ensure that assistance it provides citizens is not used by states to substitute for assistance previously provided by the states, thereby merely shifting the burden from the states to the federal government. If a state participates in a federal program which includes a maintenance of effort requirement, the state commits itself to add the federal benefits to those previously provided by the state, not to substitute them for the state benefits. Some states in turn apply the requirement to subordinate entities of government.

Finally, in Section 5.3, the State Act made clear that "This one-time program does not entitle any household to a certain amount or form of assistance."⁶ The maximum level of assistance was left to be established by DCS.⁷ Despite the various sources of the funds, expected to total roughly $8 million, DCS was to administer the entire State program. The State Act took effect when signed by the Governor on October 18, 1979.

On October 17, 1979 the Commissioner of DHS filed an application with HEW requesting $2,362,000 in federal funds to match $1,543,000 in state funds, the total of $3,905,000 to be distributed under Section 8 of the Act. After describing the problem and the State Act, a copy of which was attached, the application stated "If the 1979-1980 federal Community Services Administration Emergency Crisis Assistance Program provides in time, sufficient funding to eliminate the need for this program, the state's program will be dropped."

By letter dated December 3, 1979 HEW approved the application with certain conditions, one of which was that "No duplication of payment will be allowed between this project and any other federal energy assistance program." Thus, HEW reinforced the state's prohibition against households receiving both ECAP and Section 8 assistance by imposing its own prohibition to the same effect.

In the meantime, on November 27, 1979 President Carter signed into law P.L. 96-126, a supplemental appropriations bill which increased CSA's funding both directly ($150 million was added to the existing $250 million CSA allotment) and indirectly ($800 million was made available to the states under several options, one of which, chosen by Maine, allowed for administration in conjunction with ECAP monies). The effect of P.L. 96-126 was two-fold: The amount of money available in Maine increased from the anticipated $8 million to more than double that figure and the time period in which it was to be available for distribution accelerated from the late spring of 1980 to December, 1979 and ...