Boehm

Petitioners Irene Boehm and other Merced County residents who receive general assistance welfare payments (GA) seek mandamus to compel the Superior Court of Merced County to issue a preliminary injunction against the reduction of GA by the Merced County Board of Supervisors (the County) and the Merced County Department of Human Resources (the Department) and to grant petitioners’ motion for summary judgment.

The issue presented is whether the County acted arbitrarily and capriciously in reducing GA grants to levels sufficient to provide only minimum subsistence needs for food and shelter (including utilities). We hold that without a study which establishes that the other basic necessities—clothing, transportation and medical care—are otherwise provided to those eligible to receive GA, the GA benefits, as a matter of law, do not conform to the mandate of Welfare and Institutions Code section 17000 and its companion provisions. We will grant the writ to compel the trial court to issue a preliminary injunction against reduction of the benefits and to grant petitioners’ motion for summary adjudication of certain issues.

Background

In July 1983 the County reduced GA for…