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Administracion Para EL Sustento DE Menores of the Dep't of the Family of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Dep't of Health and Human Services of the United States

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Before Torruella, Boudin, and Dyk, *fn1 Circuit Judges.

In this appeal, plaintiff-appellant Administration for Child Support, a unit of the Department of the Family of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (“Puerto Rico”), seeks review of a decision of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS” or “Agency”) in a proceeding under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 610(c). Puerto Rico brought this action to challenge the Agency’s assessment of a financial penalty against certain federal grant money used to fund Puerto Rico’s child support enforcement programs, after HHS determined that Puerto Rico had failed to satisfy data reporting requirements, or meet performance benchmarks, in consecutive fiscal years.

Puerto Rico contends that HHS acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it refused to accept data submitted 45 days after the regulatory deadline, and failed to provide adequate notice of its intent to assess the penalty. It asserts that both of these actions were predicated on the Agency’s unreasonable reading of applicable regulations. The district court rejected these contentions, concluding that the Agency’s interpretation of its regulations was reasonable and entitled to deference. After careful review, we affirm.

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