Opinion ID: 172239
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Formula Area Requirement Conflicts with NAHASDA's Plain Language

Text: Having concluded that the language is unambiguous, we must next determine whether HUD's regulations conform to the clearly expressed intent of Congress. The seven criteria set forth in 24 C.F.R. § 1000.324 plainly reflect the need of Indian tribes and Indian areas. However, HUD has interposed § 1000.302 as a precursor or threshold requirement; if the tribe cannot show that it could exercise court jurisdiction, then it cannot claim a Formula Area or, it follows, qualify for a need-based funding allocation under the criteria of § 1000.324. As we have already suggested, we can find no discernible nexus between the requirement that the Indian tribes exercise court jurisdiction over some geographic area and the need of the tribes, as that term is ordinarily construed. The requisite connection to need does not come from the alleged difficulty of considering the needs of an Indian tribe if the tribe does not exercise court jurisdiction over a geographic area. The existence of such a difficulty is belied by the fact that the regulations already permit tribes to get funding solely because they provide substantial housing services, regardless of whether they exercise court jurisdiction. In order to see this, we must engage in a hypothetical. Assume that, while the applicant tribe (which we shall call Tribe A) can claim no court jurisdiction of its own, it provides substantial housing services in an area that falls outside the court jurisdiction of the nearest tribe (Tribe B). In that situation, under the existing regulations, Tribe A could get federal funding without having to show court jurisdiction at all. The regulations only require court jurisdiction or provision of substantial housing services and, where applicable, a Memorandum of Agreement with the governing tribe. 24 C.F.R. § 1000.302. If, as in our hypothetical, Tribe A's housing is located outside the court jurisdiction of Tribe B and that of any other nearby tribe (relieving it of the need to secure a Memorandum of Agreement), it could secure IHBG funding merely by showing that it provided substantial housing services. Court jurisdiction would be irrelevant. Therefore, because the regulations themselves allow for a situation where an Indian tribe can secure funding without exercising court jurisdiction or having a Memorandum of Agreement with a tribe that does have court jurisdiction, we cannot conclude that court jurisdiction has any real connection with the determination of need. [10] The dissent dismisses this rationale, and argues that the court jurisdiction requirement supplies a necessary geographic boundary for NAHASDA funding. Dissent at 6. Again, however, the dissent assumes that jurisdiction is necessarily synonymous with court jurisdiction. Because these two terms are not synonymous, it is not far-fetched to think, as the dissent seems to say, that the Indian tribe could provide housing assistance outside its own court jurisdiction but within its purview such that it could be claimed in the Indian Housing Plan submitted to HUD. For instance, a tribe might construct low-income housing on land that it owns but that does not qualify as Indian country. See Narragansett Indian Tribe, 89 F.3d at 910-11 (stating that the Narragansett Indian Tribe was constructing a housing complex on land that did not qualify as Indian country). In that situation, the housing would be within the tribe's Indian area and could be claimed even though it was not within its court jurisdiction. Again, this demonstrates the absence of a nexus between court jurisdiction and need. [11] The absence of such a connection means that HUD's imposition of the § 1000.302 Formula Area court jurisdiction requirement as a threshold for need-based funding over the minimum allocation is contrary to Congress's plainly expressed intent because it leads to funding allocations based on factors that do not reflect tribal housing needs. This conclusion finds no better illustration than the case at hand: the UKB's need for housing assistance did not abate when HUD concluded that the UKB lacked the ability to claim court jurisdiction. In sum, because NAHASDA is clear that the funding formula must be based exclusively on factors reflecting tribal need for housing assistance, Chevron deference does not apply to 24 C.F.R. § 1000.302  at least insofar as its court jurisdiction requirement functions as a threshold that must be met before need-based funding can be secured under § 1000.324. See Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842-43, 104 S.Ct. 2778 (If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.). [T]he principle that accords substantial weight to interpretation of a statute by the department entrusted with its administration is inapplicable insofar as those regulations are inconsistent with the [statute]. Townsend v. Swank, 404 U.S. 282, 286, 92 S.Ct. 502, 30 L.Ed.2d 448 (1971). This is so because the judiciary is the final authority on issues of statutory construction and must reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent. Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 2778. Accordingly, because the use of § 1000.302 as a threshold requirement conflicts with the plain language of 25 U.S.C. § 4152(b), we must conclude that it is invalid under the APA and that its application in the final agency action before us renders that action fatally flawed. [12] 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) (stating that courts are to set aside agency actions that are not in accordance with law). The fact that the regulatory scheme was developed through a negotiated rulemaking procedure is of no relevance to this determination.