Taylor

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

I

This is a class action for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . The plaintiffs are mothers of minor children receiving benefits under the Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Plaintiffs sue individually and on behalf of their minor dependent children, and also on behalf of all others similarly situated. 1 Jurisdiction was invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 , 1343(3), 1343(4), 1331.

The challenge in this action is to a provision of the California Welfare and Institutions Code and its implementing regulations which require the remaining parent of a child receiving AFDC funds to sign a criminal non-support complaint against the absent parent if requested to do so by local law enforcement personnel. 2 Plaintiffs — who are AFDC recipients whose grants have been denied, reduced, or terminated for refusal to sign the criminal complaints — attack the statute on the grounds of its repugnancy to the equal protection clause of the federal constitution, and to the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 602 (a) (10), and the regulations of the Department of Health,…