Opinion ID: 392957
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the need for a proper statutory basis

Text: 25 As we explain below, we believe that the primary reason DOT rescinded the newly promulgated 1976 regulations and replaced them with the regulations at issue in this appeal was the perceived need to follow HEW's section 504 guidelines. Every aspect of the rulemaking procedure points to those guidelines as the moving force for change, and, in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Davis, section 504 cannot support so burdensome a mandate to local governments. It remains possible, however, that the regulations are a valid exercise of DOT's authority to enforce other provisions of the UMTA and the FAHA; two such provisions were actually cited by DOT in promulgating these rules. We must therefore determine whether the error in relying on section 504 warrants our remanding these proceedings to DOT, rather than considering the validity of the regulations under other statutes. 26 When an administrative decision is based on inadequate or improper grounds, a reviewing court may not presume that the administrator would have made the same decision on other, valid grounds. See, e. g., SEC v. Chenery Corp. (II), 332 U.S. 194, 196, 67 S.Ct. 1575, 1577, 91 L.Ed. 1995 (1947); SEC v. Chenery Corp. (I), 318 U.S. 80, 63 S.Ct. 454, 87 L.Ed. 626 (1943). As Judge Leventhal noted in United States ex rel. Checkman v. Laird, 469 F.2d 773, 780-83 (2d Cir. 1972) (Leventhal, J., sitting by designation), this rule is necessary to preserve the proper allocation of responsibilities between administrators and reviewing courts. A court usurps the position of the proper decisionmaker when it rummages throughout the record, id. at 783, to find an alternative basis for the administrator's action: a court, if it sustains a decision by recourse to reasons outside those specified, opens the door to the improper substituting of the court's judgment and evaluation ... in place of that of the agency ... with responsibility. Id. at 781. 27 The government argues that a remand is not necessary in this case for two reasons. First, it maintains that the Chenery principle applies only when courts would have to advance alternative factual or policy bases for an agency decision, questions that Congress left to agency discretion. The government maintains that Chenery does not apply when the administrator errs in interpreting a statute. The rule is, however, fully applicable to such cases. As the Supreme Court held in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416, 91 S.Ct. 814, 823, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971), a reviewing court must always determine whether an administrator properly construed the scope of his statutory authority in making a decision. When it is likely an administrator would not have enforced one statute in the way he enforced another, a decision promulgated on the basis of the wrong statute should be remanded for his reconsideration. 28 Second, the government argues, and the court below held, that the DOT regulations are valid because they are based on an independent decision of the DOT Secretary to enforce section 16 of the UMTA and section 165(b) of the FAHA, and to exercise his broad authority to condition grants under sections 3 and 5 of the UMTA. It is true that DOT cited two of these provisions, UMTA section 16 and FAHA section 165(b), in promulgating the regulations, but a court's obligation under Chenery to give agencies the opportunity to exercise their discretion unfettered by legal error cannot be avoided by relying on the formal citation of additional authority. Instead, this court must determine whether it is likely that DOT's decision to promulgate these regulations was affected by its mistaken reliance on section 504 and the HEW guidelines. See Massachusetts Trustees v. United States, 377 U.S. 235, 247-48, 84 S.Ct. 1236, 1244-45, 12 L.Ed.2d 268 (1964). 29 In 1976, the DOT Secretary promulgated regulations implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, UMTA section 16, and FAHA section 165. Those regulations did not mandate mainstreaming in all transportation modes in all transit systems; rather, they provide that each local authority could make transportation services available to the needy in the manner most suited to its particular situation, and they gave examples of several approaches that would satisfy the regulations. See 41 Fed.Reg. 18,234 (1976). If the HEW Secretary had not implemented guidelines enforcing section 504 inconsistent with DOT's 1976 regulations, it is quite possible the latter would still be in effect. 30 Moreover, in deciding what regulations to implement in 1979, DOT stated that it was bound by the HEW guidelines and evaluated alternatives in terms of their consistency with the guidelines. See, e. g., Department of Transportation Section 504 Regulation Analysis, J.A. at 95, 98 ((R)eliance on special service transit in place of mainline accessibility would not be consistent with the HEW guidelines. Consequently, this analysis of the section 504 requirements for UMTA grantees is based on the view that mainline accessibility is necessary.); Implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by the Department of Transportation, J.A. at 196, 197 (DOT document) (HEW's Guidelines, are, in our view, legally binding on DOT ....). 31 Furthermore, as discussed above, the DOT regulations were not even promulgated until, after weeks of negotiation and several modifications, the HEW Secretary approved them as consistent with the HEW guidelines. See 44 Fed.Reg. 31,442 (1979). Even the formal promulgation of the regulations explains them in terms of the HEW guidelines enforcing section 504. See id. at 31,442. In the context of rail systems, DOT explicitly rejected some options because they were inconsistent with the HEW guidelines. See 44 Fed.Reg. 31,450 (1979) (The concept of local option as expressed by many commenters is inconsistent with the assurance of providing program accessibility which section 504 and the HEW guidelines require.). Although no such statement was made in the context of bus systems, subsequent requests for exemptions for such systems have been rejected on the ground that a waiver would be inconsistent with HEW's guidelines. See, e. g., J.A. at 189, 190 (DOT letter rejecting Erie, Pa., request for waiver for bus system: (B)inding guidelines issued by (HEW) .... explicitly require that new transit buses purchased with federal grants be accessible.). 32 We do not hold that, because the Secretary of DOT followed HEW's section 504 guidelines, he could not have made an independent policy decision to take the same approach in enforcing other statutes. We merely hold that the events surrounding the adoption of the 1979 regulations strongly suggest that he did not do so, and it would be improper for this court to rummage through the record to resolve a question whether the regulations enforce other statutes that should be made by the Secretary in the first instance. 13 33 We therefore remand to give the administrator an opportunity to explain whether these regulations are based on statutes other than section 504. If, on remand from the district court, the Secretary indicates that the regulations do enforce other statutes, he should identify the provisions of the UMTA or the FAHA or any other act that are enforced by the regulations, and he should justify the regulations in terms of the cited provisions. 14