Lawsuit filed against Trump administration for slashing FEMA’s pre-disaster efforts

A group of attorneys general from blue states, along with a governor, filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts on Wednesday, alleging that President Donald Trump unlawfully appointed acting administrators to abruptly and illegally terminate FEMA’s critical pre-disaster mitigation program by withholding funds that Congress had already approved. This is happening at a time when people across the U.S. face increased risks from natural disasters.

The lawsuit, led by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and attorneys general from states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, argues that the steps taken by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem—specifically her intentions to either shut down or restructure FEMA—resulted in an abrupt stop to funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) projects. The lawsuit claims this action undermines a program based on two decades of federal investment in disaster mitigation, which has reportedly saved Americans $157.9 billion.

FEMA is part of DHS and BRIC came about in 2018 as Trump, during his first term, signed into law the Disaster Recovery Act. That year, deadly wildfires raged in California and hurricanes wreaked havoc on Texas, Puerto Rico, and Florida.

“Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects from every corner of the country to receive roughly $4.5 billion in funding,” the suit said, noting that “coastal communities have received the largest allocations over the past four years, with California, Louisiana, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, and Washington leading the way.”

Earlier in 2025, wildfires leveled Los Angeles. Over July 4 weekend, Texas was devastated by flooding that, as of this writing, has taken the lives of 134 people, raising questions about the effectiveness of FEMA’s response and whether the National Weather Service adequately warned citizens amid staffing cuts.

And yet, the Trump administration’s “unlawful” shift in emphasis to post-disaster relief was enabled by acting FEMA administrators — Cameron Hamilton and then David Richardson — who didn’t have the authority to fill those roles, said the lawsuit.

“By unilaterally shutting down FEMA’s flagship pre-disaster mitigation program, Defendants have acted unlawfully and violated core separation of powers principles,” the suit said. “Second, the steps Defendants have taken to implement the termination—refusing to spend funds Congress directed toward BRIC or trying to spend them on other programs—also violate the Constitution and unlawfully intrude on Congress’s power of the purse.”

“Third, neither Mr. Hamilton nor his successor, David Richardson, were lawfully appointed to run FEMA, and they therefore lack the authority to shut down the BRIC program,” the filing continued. The suit emphasized that, leaving aside the way Hamilton and Richardson were named acting administrators, neither of them have the emergency management experience required by law.

“Like Hamilton, Richardson ‘has no prior emergency management experience,’ so he also does not meet the statutory qualifications for the FEMA Administrator,” the suit said.

The AGs and Shapiro argued that an injunction is necessary and appropriate to block the administration from illegally diverting billions intended for pre-disaster mitigation to post-disaster relief — especially as the government may begin spending those funds soon.