WA co-leads multistate suit against HHS, Sec. Kennedy to overturn cuts to public health grants

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Nick Brown today joined a coalition of 24 states in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for abruptly and illegally terminating $11 billion in critical public health grants to the states.

The grant terminations, which came with no warning or legally valid explanation, have quickly caused chaos for state health agencies that rely on these critical funds for a wide range of urgent public health needs such as infectious disease management, fortifying emergency preparedness, providing mental health and substance abuse services, and modernizing public health infrastructure.

“We can’t make America healthy by spreading preventable diseases,” Brown said. “Aside from the illegality of these actions, the administration is also choosing to neglect the biggest public health challenges, including substance abuse and mental health crises, facing our communities.”

Washington stands to lose more than $159 million from these cancellations by HHS. If the funding is not restored, important state public health programs and initiatives will have to be dissolved or disbanded. Washington’s Department of Health has already had to cancel its Care-A-Van mobile health clinics that provide health care, including vaccinations and health education, to historically underserved communities. The program prioritizes rural areas, BIPOC communities, immigrants and refugees, unhoused populations, children and schools, and other vulnerable populations.

These federal awards terminations also threaten Washington’s Health Care Authority’s network of regional Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organizations, which provide behavioral health services to low-income non-Medicaid individuals with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders, populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HHS cuts threaten the urgent public health needs of states around the country at a time when emerging disease threats—such as measles and bird flu—are on the rise, Brown warned.

Congress authorized and appropriated new and increased funding for these grants in COVID-19-related legislation to support critical public health needs. Many of these grants are from specific programs created by Congress, such as block grants to states for mental health and substance abuse and addiction services. Yet, with no legal authority or explanation, Secretary Kennedy’s HHS agencies on March 24 arbitrarily terminated these grants “for cause” effective immediately, claiming that the pandemic is over and the grants are no longer necessary.

In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, the coalition of states assert that the mass terminations violate federal law because the end of the pandemic is not a “for cause” basis for ending the grants, especially since none of the appropriated funds are tied to the end of the pandemic. HHS’ position, up until a few days ago, was that the end of the pandemic did not affect the availability of these grant funds. HHS has not pointed to any failure on the part of the states in complying with their agreements with HHS that would warrant the federal government’s unlawful terminations.

With this lawsuit, the coalition is seeking a temporary restraining order to invalidate HHS’s and Secretary Kennedy’s mass grant terminations in the suing states, arguing that the actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The states are also asking the court to prevent HHS from maintaining or reinstating the terminations and any agency actions implementing them.

Attorneys General Brown, Phil Weiser of Colorado, Peter Neronha of Rhode Island, Rob Bonta of California, and Keith Ellison of Minnesota are co-leading the litigation. They are joined by the Attorneys General of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin, as well as the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

The lawsuit can be found here.

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