Sanchez

We must decide whether developmentally disabled recipients of Medicaid funds and their service providers have a private right of action against state officials to compel the enforcement of a federal law governing state disbursement of such funds. We are also asked to decide, separately, whether the State of California has unlawfully discriminated by allegedly paying community-based service providers lower wages and benefits than it pays employees in state institutions.

I

In May, 2000, seven named plaintiffs representing a class of developmentally disabled individuals, and six organizations that advocate for, or provide community-based services to, the developmentally disabled, brought this action against California officials who manage and administer various state programs for the developmentally disabled.

The class (collectively referred to by reference to the first named plaintiff as “Sanchez”) consists of those individuals who would be capable of living in the community with properly funded support services but who now live in, or are at risk of living in, state institutions because community-based services are inadequately funded. All members of the class are entitled to…