Opinion ID: 494606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Consistency With Prior Interpretations

Text: 29 Appellants' third argument is that the inclusion of the restaurant allowance in the calculation of income is inconsistent with the exclusion of reimbursements under similar programs. They cite the exclusion of payments under two such programs: emergency shelter payments made to shelter providers on behalf of homeless families and reimbursements paid to households for the expense of temporary housing after a disaster under the Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) program. 30 The attempt to analogize the restaurant allowance to the shelter allowance is unavailing. The shelter allowance is paid directly to the housing provider and is thus excluded from income as a vendor payment under subsection 2014(d)(1), rather than as a direct payment under (d)(5). Subsection (d)(1) provides for the exclusion from income of any gain or benefit which is not in the form of money payable directly to a household. But subsection (d)(5) only excludes payments which do not represent a gain or benefit to the household. Thus, a comparison between the two allowances is not apt. Consistent with this distinction, the Secretary has regularly advised the State of New York that were its restaurant allowance paid to the vendor directly or in voucher form, it then would be excludable from income. 31 The attempt to analogize to FEMA reimbursements is also unpersuasive. FEMA grants provide relief only for demonstrated losses and merely attempt to restore recipients to the position they were in before the disaster. FEMA grants therefore confer no gain or benefit to the recipient household and are appropriately excluded for income under the food stamp regulations. Although homelessness may be analogized to a natural disaster, we do not believe that the Secretary's choice to treat them differently was unreasonable. 32 The Secretary's inclusion of the restaurant allowance in income therefore is not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulatory scheme. III Administrative Procedure Act Claim 33 Appellants' second major argument is that the Secretary's application of the regulations to New York's restaurant allowance is void because the Secretary failed to follow the procedures set forth in Secs. 3 and 4 of the Administrative Procedure Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. Secs. 552, 553 (1982) (APA). They argue that the Secretary's ruling was promulgated without prior notice and opportunity for comment required by Sec. 4. This argument is unpersuasive because the notice and comment procedures do not apply to interpretative rules. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553(b)(A). In distinguishing interpretative rules from substantive rules under Sec. 553, we have held that one looks to whether a rule 'changed existing rights and obligations.'  Donovan v. Red Star Marine Servs., Inc., 739 F.2d 774, 783 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1003, 105 S.Ct. 1355, 84 L.Ed.2d 377 (1985) (quoting Lewis-Mota v. Secretary of Labor, 469 F.2d 478, 482 (2d Cir.1972)). Since there was no prior interpretation of the food stamp regulations concerning any program like New York's restaurant allowance, the Secretary's interpretation did not change any existing rights or obligations. Therefore, this was an interpretative rule not subject to the notice and comment requirements of Sec. 553. 34 Another argument advanced here is that the regulations are void because the Secretary failed to publish them in the Federal Register in accordance with Sec. 3 of the APA, as amended, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552 (1982). This section requires that [e]ach agency shall ... currently publish in the Federal Register for the guidance of the public ... interpretations of general applicability formulated and adopted by the agency. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552(a)(1)(D). Concededly, there has been some uncertainty about how to define interpretations of general applicability, see 1 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise Sec. 5:11 (2d ed. 1978). We think the reading of this phrase by the Sixth Circuit in Hogg v. United States, 428 F.2d 274 (6th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 910, 91 S.Ct. 871, 27 L.Ed.2d 805 (1971), is sound. In that case the court stated that the requirement for publication attaches only to matters which if not published would adversely affect a member of the public. Id. at 280. Accord, Cubanski v. Heckler, 781 F.2d 1421, 1428-29 (9th Cir.1986), cert. granted sub nom. Bowen v. Kizer, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1282, 94 L.Ed.2d 141 (1987); Donovan v. Wollaston Alloys, Inc., 695 F.2d 1, 9 (1st Cir.1982); United States v. Fitch Oil Co., 676 F.2d 673, 678 (Temp.Emer.Ct.App.1982); United States v. Goodman, 605 F.2d 870, 887-88 (5th Cir.1979). See also United States v. Hayes, 325 F.2d 307, 309 (4th Cir.1963) (per curiam) (decided under predecessor to Sec. 552(a)). But see Anderson v. Butz, 550 F.2d 459, 463 (9th Cir.1977) (an interpretation of general applicability is one that does more than clarify or explain existing law or one that has a significant impact upon a segment of the public). 35 We adopt this reading of the statute because it comports with the stated purpose of providing guidance to the public, see Sec. 552(a)(1), and reconciles the broad language of this provision with the impracticability of publishing all interpretative rulings. See generally 1 K. Davis, supra, Sec. 5:11, at 345-47. Because the food stamp program is administered by the State and City of New York, which are, of course, aware of the ruling, and because no argument has been presented that any recipient might be adversely affected by its non-publication, the ruling does not come within the publication requirement of Sec. 552.