Friday, August 21, 2009

Rules Promulgated By The Agency For Persons With Disabilities Found Invalid By The First District

In Moreland, et al v. Agency for Persons with Disabilities (1D08-4353), the First District found a controversial classification system used to determine disabled benefits to be invalid. The Tallahassee Democrat has an article on the decision which can be found here. The First District held as follows:

Appellants challenge an administrative order which found that a series of proposed rules promulgated by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (the Agency), creating a four-tiered system for Medicaid waiver benefits, was a valid exercise of delegated legislative authority. We find that the administrative law judge erred in finding the proposed rules are valid because (1) the Agency failed to demonstrate it adopted a valid, reliable assessment instrument; (2) the rules place an age limit on eligibility for Tier 3; and (3) the rules automatically place some former waiver recipients into Tier 4 without an assessment.

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In summary, we reverse the ALJ’s findings that Proposed Rules 65G-4.0021, 65G-4.0024, and 65G-4.0025 are valid and strike these rules as invalid for contravening the statute which they implement. We also find it necessary to strike Proposed Rules 65G-4.0022 and 65G-4.0023; although these rules are not invalid individually, the Proposed Rules are so interrelated that these rules cannot stand alone. We affirm the ALJ’s findings on all other issues.

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