Court Opinion

ID: 9720264
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:22:57.422295+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:14.832963
License: Public Domain

POCHÉ, J.
Although I concur with the discussion concluding that the lump-sum rule was not injected into the State-only AFDC-U program by the Legislature’s various formulations of Welfare and Institutions Code section 11157,1 I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which eviscerates a welfare program consciously maintained by the Legislature.
*430The heart of the matter is the reference in subdivision (b) of section 11201 to recipients qualifying “in accordance with the standards for unemployed parents set by the federal government.” If the majority is in earnest about requiring recipients to satisfy “the standards ... set by the federal government,” it would logically follow that this means all “the standards ... set by the federal government.” The majority concedes that the lump-sum rule is one such standard, refuses to hold it applicable to the state-only program, yet at the same time finds that the federal “work history” rule must be incorporated. I do not know how or on what basis the majority treats the former standard as an apple while the latter qualifies as an orange. On its face the statute’s language does not justify picking and choosing which federal standards are applicable to the state-only program, yet this is precisely what the majority does. Nor does the majority identify any discernible basis for making a principled distinction as to which federal standards are in and which are out. At best, the majority’s opinion is internally inconsistent; the respective positions regarding the construction of sections 11157 and 11201 are totally irreconcilable. At worst, and as I shall attempt to demonstrate hereafter, the majority’s position will make the State-only AFDC-U program a virtual dead letter.
“ ‘The rule of law in the construction of remedial statutes requires great liberality, and wherever the meaning is doubtful, it must be so construed as to extend the remedy.’ ” (Continental Cas. Co. v. Phoenix Constr. Co. (1956) 46 Cal.2d 423, 434-435 [296 P.2d 801, 57 A.L.R.2d 914].) “The words of a statute will not be literally construed if this would cause an absurd result, or if it would fail to give effect to the manifest purposes of the statute .... [Citation.] ‘ “[T]hat construction is favored which would defeat subterfuges, expediencies, or evasions employed to continue the mischief sought to be remedied by the statute or to defeat compliance with its terms, or any attempt to accomplish by indirection what the statute forbids.” ’ ” (Granberry v. Islay Investments (1984) 161 Cal.App.3d 382, 388 [207 Cal.Rptr. 652].) “ ‘[W]here the language of a statutory provision is susceptible of two constructions, one of which, in application, will render it reasonable, fair and harmonious with its manifest purpose, and another which would be productive of absurd consequences, the former construction will be adopted.’ ” (In re Eric J. (1979) 25 Cal.3d 522, 537 [159 Cal.Rptr. 317, 601 P.2d 549].) “We are not at liberty to adopt an interpretation . . . which would ascribe to the Legislature an intent to act capriciously . . . when their language admits of an alternative interpretation which would serve the statutory policy and render application of the law reasonable and just.” (Estate of Yush (1970) 8 Cal.App.3d 251, 255 [87 Cal.Rptr. 222].) This court is on record as agreeing that “an interpretation which would lead to an unreasonable result or absurdity must be avoided.” (Dreyer’s Grand Ice *431Cream, Inc. v. County of Alameda (1986) 178 Cal.App.3d 1174, 1182 [224 Cal.Rptr. 285].)
I take it as a given that the statutes respecting the State-only AFDC-U program qualify as remedial in nature. The statutes establishing that program can only be seen as a conscious decision by the Legislature to establish a more liberal eligibility standard than those governing the joint state-federal AFDC-U scheme. The majority recognizes the Legislature’s unquestioned power to make such a decision. (See Engelman v. Amos (1971) 404 U.S. 23, 24 [30 L.Ed.2d 143, 144-145, 92 S.Ct. 181]; Darces v. Woods (1984) 35 Cal.3d 871, 894-895 [201 Cal.Rptr. 807, 679 P.2d 458]; Reyna v. McMahon, supra, 180 Cal.App.3d 220 at p. 223.)
The majority professes its intention “to maintain both the joint state-federal and the state-only programs.” (Majority opn., ante, p. 425.) Yet this goal is at odds with what the majority does, which is to gut the state-only program and abolish any distinction between it and the joint state-federal AFDC-U program.
One can only assume that there must be some difference between the two programs, or else the Legislature’s decision to establish the state-only program (see § 11315, subd. (a)) was nothing less than an exercise in futility. Granted, section 11201 is hardly an exemplar of precise legislative draftsmanship. But even the majority recognizes that section 11201 establishes differing eligibility standards for the joint state-federal program (subd. (a)) than for the state-only program (subd. (b)). The obvious import of section 11201 is that if a parent does not qualify under subdivision (a) for inclusion in the joint program, he or she can qualify for eligibility in the state-only program if the requirements of subdivision (b) are met. Yet this bifurcation flies in the face of subdivision (b)(5)’s incorporation of “the standards . . . set by the federal government.” Read literally, this requires a parent to meet all federal standards in order to qualify, not for the joint state-federal program, but for the state-only program. Applied literally, this language makes the state-only program redundant: a parent who qualifies for the state-only program would also qualify for the joint program and would presumably be included in the joint program. If this is the case, who would qualify for just the state-only program? The unavoidable answer would seem to be: no one.
This would make the Legislature’s deliberate decision to establish the State-only AFDC-U program a beautiful gesture devoid of any substance. I cannot imagine a more absurd, capricious, or unreasonable result so totally disharmonious with the Legislature’s manifest purpose in establishing that program. A different yet logical construction will avoid these dire consequences.
*432I would construe the reference to “standards for unemployed parents set by the federal government” in subdivision (b)(5) of section 11201 to mean all such standards not incompatible with state law. Defendants conceded before the trial court that the “work history” factor is not an eligibility standard for the state-only program.2 They recognized in the “All-County Letter” quoted ante that “in order to get state-only AFDC-U a principal earner cannot be eligible for the federal AFDC-U program.” The same statute that establishes the State-only AFDC-U program also states: “For purposes of this section, if neither parent has a connection to the labor force, as defined by federal law, the family may designate the primary wage earner.” (§ 11315, subd. (c).) This provision can only be read as a decisive repudiation of the majority’s view that “work history or connection to the labor force” must be treated as a prerequisite for eligibility in the state-only program.
These circumstances put the compliance order in a different and completely sustainable light. The construction of section 11201 I propose is consistent with the principles of statutory interpretation quoted above. It is also the only reasonable way to prevent the State-only AFDC-U program from being consigned to oblivion and becoming “only a promise to the ear to be broken to the hope, a teasing illusion like a munificent bequest in a pauper’s will.” (Edwards v. California (1941) 314 U.S. 160, 186 [86 L.Ed. 119, 132, 62 S.Ct. 164] (conc. opn. of Jackson, J.).)
My vote is for unqualified affirmance of the judgment and the compliance order.
A petition for a rehearing was denied January 27, 1988. Poché, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted. Appellants’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied March 17, 1988.

 Statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise noted.

 During the compliance order controversy, counsel for defendants told the trial court: “[I]n looking at the federal and state AFDC-U programs, there are only two significant differences between them. The federal program requires a recent connection with the work force and the state program does not. The federal program has a 30[-]day waiting period and the state program does not.” (Italics added.)