FEMA Sued By 20 States Over Cuts to Disaster Mitigation Program

Cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program violate Congress’s constitutional right to direct funds and infringe on the separation of powers, a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of 20 states said.

The states allege that Cameron Hamilton, whom the suit alleges the Trump Administration installed unlawfully to act as FEMA’s administrator, illegally shut down the program used for pre-disaster mitigation.

Hamilton was fired a day after saying he didn’t “believe that it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate FEMA.” He was later replaced by David Richardson. The suit alleges that Richardson, who had no prior emergency management experience, was also unlawfully given the position.

“Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars for planning, permitting, and environmental review are now threatened,” the suit said. “And in the meantime, Americans across the country face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters.”

The lawsuit comes days after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, called for FEMA to be overhauled and in the wake of devastating floods in Kerr County, Texas that left more than 100 people dead. FEMA was also sued in March by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for allegedly blocking access to a $40 million grant to upgrade the emergency-alert system in the US. On Tuesday, the court denied a preliminary injunction in the suit.

The states said David Richardson’s hiring is a violation of the appointments clause because he was neither nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and didn’t meet the statutory qualifications in order to be a FEMA administrator.

The BRIC program previously funded projects including flood walls, levees, safe rooms to provide shelter from tornadoes, soil remediation to protect against landslides, and seismic retrofits to fortify against earthquakes. The suit said that a 2019 study found that each dollar the government invested in mitigation between 1993 and 2016 will avoid $6 in costs.

In Trump’s first term, the BRIC program was expanded in the wake of multiple natural disasters, including:

• Hurricane Harvey, which caused more than $100 billion in damage to Texas;
• Hurricane Maria, which killed thousands in Puerto Rico;
• Hurricane Irma, which devastated Florida;
• and wildfires that ravaged California, the suit said.

The lawsuit noted that Trump’s first FEMA administrator, Brock Long, said “Building more resilient communities is the best way to reduce risks to people, property, and taxpayer dollars. I cannot overstate the importance of focusing on investing in mitigation before a disaster strikes.”

But the complaint said Trump’s second administration has taken a different approach to mitigation efforts, and “has expressed hostility toward FEMA from the start.”

FEMA didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The states are represented by their respective attorneys general.

The case is State of Washington v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-12006, complaint filed 7/16/25.