Exceptional Persons, Inc. New Choices, Inc. Handicapped Development Center Life Works Community Services Candeo, Vocational Development Center, Inc., Healthy Connections, Inc. And Krysilis, Inc. v. Iowa Department of Human Services

HECHT, Justice.

A 2009 executive order announced a ten percent reduction in spending by departments and agencies of state government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. As one part of its response to. the executive order, the Iowa Department of Human Services (IDHS) promulgated temporary rules, adjusting the reimbursement rates paid to Medicaid service providers. Before those temporary rules expired, the legislature passed a statute directing IDHS to continue for the next fiscal year the rate reductions “as specified under” the 2009 executive order. In its response to the legislative…