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Doe v. Commissioner of Transitional Assistance8/15/2002
Suffolk.
March 5, 2002.
Welfare Reform Act. Constitutional Law, Equal protection of laws, Privileges and immunities, Right to travel, Judicial review. Alien.
Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on July 6, 2000.
The case was heard by Ralph D. Gants, J., on motions for partial summary judgment, and entry of judgment was ordered by Ernest B. Murphy, J.
The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review.
In 1996, Congress enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, 8áU.S.C. á1601 et seq. (2000) (welfare reform act), which, in relevant part, barred "qualified aliens" from receiving any Federal public benefits, including assistance provided to the States through the Federal temporary assistance for needy families program (TANF), until they had resided in the United States for five years. 8 U.S.C. á1613(a). The welfare reform act also authorized States to impose limitations on the eligibility of qualified aliens for State-funded welfare benefits. 8 U.S.C. á1624. One of the stated purposes of the welfare reform act was to further the national immigration policy that "aliens within the Nation's borders not depend on public resources to meet their needs, but rather rely on their own capabilities and the resources of their families, their sponsors, and private organizations, and . . . [that] the availability of public benefits not constitute an incentive for immigration to the United States." 8 U.S.C. á1601(2).
In Massachusetts, Federal TANF funds are combined with State funds to pay for the transitional aid to families with dependent children (TAFDC) program. G. L. c. 118. As a consequence, the passage of the welfare reform act made qualified aliens living in Massachusetts ineligible to receive assistance provided under the TAFDC program unless they had lived in the United States for five years. In response, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted St. 1997, c. 43, á210 ( 210), which changed Massachusetts welfare law in two ways: first, it amended State law to conform to the requirements of the welfare reform act by confirming that qualified aliens ineligible to receive federally funded benefits would not be eligible to receive TAFDC benefits ( 210 ); and second, it established a new program, supplemental transitional aid to families with dependent children (supplemental program), to be funded solely with State funds ( 210 and ). The supplemental program was available only to qualified aliens who were no longer eligible to receive TAFDC benefits because of the passage of the welfare reform act, and was intended to mitigate the impact of the loss of those benefits. St. 1997, c. 43, á210á(b). The benefits provided to qualified aliens under the supplemental program were comparable to those provided under the TAFDC program. St. 1997, c. 43, 210 (b). To be eligible, qualified aliens had either to have been enrolled in the TAFDC program at the time the welfare reform act was enacted, or, if newly applying, to have resided in the Commonwealth for six months. St. 1997, c. 43, á210á(c) (3).
The plaintiffs are qualified aliens who had not resided in the United States for more than five years, nor in the Commonwealth for six months, when they applied for and were denied benefits under the supplemental program. They filed an action in the Superior Court challenging the constitutionality of the six-month residency requirement of 210 as violative of their right to the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and by arts. 1 and 10 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The gravamen
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