Wheaton v. Kulongoski

In 2002, the Department of Human Services (DHS), responding to a $2,600,000 budget cut, promulgated a temporary rule terminating a program for medically needy individuals and shortly thereafter sent to each of the program’s beneficiaries a notice of its termination effective February 1, 2003. Petitioners, who were receiving benefits under the program at the time, requested contested case hearings. When the agency denied their requests, petitioners sought judicial review in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Their petition, as ultimately amended, claimed that, in terminating the program, the…