Opinion ID: 4561573
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Meaning of “Offset” & “Cost”

Text: MHA’s interpretation is based in part on the dictionary definition of “offset,” which generally means to counterbalance or compensate for something. (See Steinmeyer v. Warner Cons. Corp. (1974) 42 Cal.App.3d 515, 518.) Echoing the Court of Appeal, MHA asserts that payments by the state must offset costs the family itself incurs to keep a developmentally disabled member at home; “[o]therwise the payment does not counterbalance or compensate for the costs of services.” As MHA puts it, “the payment must go to the same entity that incurs the cost of those services.” MHA further insists that “cost” is a monetary term that does not encompass emotional costs Reilly bears in caring for her daughter, nor any lost opportunity costs when Reilly forgoes outside employment to be her daughter’s IHSS provider. We disagree with MHA’s interpretation. Unlike the word “reimburse,” which means to “pay back or compensate (another party) for money spent or losses incurred” (American Heritage Dict. (5th ed. 2020) p. 1214, italics added), “offset” is not similarly restrictive. (See Briggs v. Eden Council for Hope & Opportunity (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1106, 1117 [“Where different words or phrases are used in the same connection in different parts of a statute, it is presumed the Legislature intended a 9 REILLY v. MARIN HOUSING AUTHORITY Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. different meaning”].) For example, the term “reimbursement” is used in two other exclusions. (24 C.F.R. § 5.609(c)(4), (8)(iii) (2020).) Consistent with the meaning of “reimburse,” those exclusions refer to compensation of specific, discrete amounts, e.g., “the cost of medical expenses” (id., § 5.609(c)(4) (2020)) and “out-of-pocket expenses” to participate in a publicly assisted program (id., § 5.609(c)(8)(iii)). While the term “reimburse” suggests there may be full recompense for any out-of-pocket expenses a family incurs under those exclusions, “offset” as used here does not necessarily reflect that same meaning. (See Briggs v. Eden Council for Hope & Opportunity, supra, 19 Cal.4th at p. 1117.) Here, what is “offset” is the “cost of services and equipment needed to keep the developmentally disabled family member at home.” (24 C.F.R. § 5.609(c)(16) (2020).) “[C]ost,” in turn, is defined to include both “an amount paid or required in payment for a purchase; a price” and “the expenditure of something, such as time or labor, necessary for the attainment of a goal.” (American Heritage Dict., supra, at p. 454.) Whether a family uses homecare payments to support itself so that it may care for a developmentally disabled member at home, or instead uses the funds to pay a third party to provide care for some of the time, these payments do no more than “offset” the “cost” of services and equipment needed to avoid institutionalization, costs that are not otherwise specified or limited. (24 C.F.R. § 5.609(c)(16) (2020).) Further, contrary to MHA’s suggestion, “cost” in this exclusion (24 C.F.R. § 5.609(c)(16) (2020)) does not have the same meaning as “cost” used in other provisions of the regulation. For instance, “actual cost of shelter and utilities” (24 C.F.R. § 5.609(b)(6)(ii) (2020)) and “cost of medical expenses for 10 REILLY v. MARIN HOUSING AUTHORITY Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. any family member” (id., § 5.609(c)(4) (2020)) both refer to discrete, monetary amounts. “[T]he presumption that ‘identical words used in different parts of the same act are intended to have the same meaning . . . readily yields whenever there is such variation in the connection in which the words are used as reasonably to warrant the conclusion that they were employed in different parts of the act with different intent.’ ” (Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, Inc. (2012) 566 U.S. 93, 108.)