Judge halts FEMA move to redirect disaster preparedness funding

A district judge in Massachusetts has granted a request by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 19 other state officials to block the Federal Emergency Management Agency from redirecting money from a disaster preparedness program.

The court order handed down Tuesday grants the preliminary injunction requested by the 20 state officials. It halts actions taken by the Trump administration through FEMA to end the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program without Congressional approval.

"What we're demanding is that we get the funding that's already been legally approved and appropriated," Bonta said.

The court found the plaintiff states were likely to succeed on the merits of their claims regarding FEMA's unlawful rollback of the BRIC program.

The lawsuit, filed on July 16, argues the steps taken amount to the illegal closure of a much-needed program. While the ruling doesn't release the funds, it prevents them from being diverted to other uses until a final ruling is reached.

BRIC was created in 2018 by Congress to replace FEMA's prior pre-disaster mitigation program ? and its initial funding outlay came in 2020, during the first Trump administration.

The BRIC program supports projects such as constructing evacuation shelters and floodwalls, safeguarding utility grids against wildfires, protecting wastewater and drinking water infrastructure and fortifying bridges, roadways, and culverts.

Since 2020, FEMA has made billions of dollars available through BRIC to prepare for and mitigate the risks of disasters, according to the lawsuit. The Inflation Reduction Act provided $1 billion to the program.

California is the largest beneficiary of the BRIC program and could receive over a billion dollars for future projects that FEMA had selected for grant funding before the program was unlawfully terminated, if the suits succeed, Bonta said.

"Shuttering this program would do nothing to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse or improve government efficiency," Bonta said. "This is a program with bipartisan support that is focused on protecting lives and livelihoods from flooding, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters."

The other states in the lawsuit are: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

During a press conference Monday, Bonta and California Gov. Gavin Newsom highlighted 37 lawsuits the state has filed against the Trump administration since January.

The efforts were supported by $25 million approved by lawmakers in a special session last year for the state Justice Department and local prosecutors, after Trump was re-elected.

The lawsuits attempt to compel the release of withheld federal funding for schools, public health, environmental, and other programs, as well as to try to block cuts to federal agencies and programs.

"What we're demanding is that we get the funding that's already been legally approved and appropriated to our state," Bonta said during Monday's press conference. "The money is critical and it touches every corner of California."

The efforts have resulted in the release of $168 billion in federal funds to California, Bonta said.

"None of us imagined that just in the past seven months 37 lawsuits would be necessary," Newsom said.

"Thankfully, we have an outstanding leader in our attorney general," said Newsom, also lauding Bonta for rapidly supporting early efforts to secure state funding for lawsuits.

Bonta's predecessor and fellow Democrat Xavier Becerra filed 122 lawsuits in Trump's first administration. The state is on track to exceed that number. Bonta has also filed 40 amicus briefs supporting other states' lawsuits.

On Monday, Bonta announced he had won the release of $1 billion in education funding, $300 million for electric vehicle chargers and nearly $1 billion for public health programs, he said.

The state also has 13 court orders pausing Trump's initiatives, according to Bonta, but the outcome of most of the lawsuits is undecided.

The win-loss record has been a mixed bag. The lawsuits to block Trump's tariffs or the deployment of U.S. Marines and the national guard to Los Angeles during protests over U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement raids failed.