Attorney General Clark and Coalition Secure Court Order Requiring Trump Administration to Restore Billions in Disaster Mitigation Funding

Attorney General Charity Clark and a coalition of 23 states today secured a court order requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to promptly take steps necessary to reverse the termination the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC) and restore billions in funding to communities relying on them. The decision follows a motion filed by the coalition to compel FEMA to comply with aprevious court order from December.

For the past 30 years, the BRIC program has provided communities across the nation with resources to proactively fortify their infrastructure against natural disasters. By focusing on mitigation and community resilience, the program has saved lives, reduced injury, protected property, and saved money that would have otherwise been spent on post-disaster costs.

On July 16, 2025, Attorney General Clark and the coalition filed a lawsuit to prevent FEMA from terminating its BRIC program - an action which had already delayed, scaled back, and cancelled hundreds of mitigation projects across the country that depend on this funding. On December 11, 2025, the coalition won their case . The court declared the termination of this congressionally mandated program unlawful and ordered FEMA to promptly take all steps necessary to reverse the termination. On February 17, 2026, the coalition filed a motion asking the District of Massachusetts to enforce its December 11 order,as the Trump Administration had offered no indication that it had complied with the order at that point. Today, the court sided with the coalition and granted its requested relief.

Today's order requires FEMA to make pre-disaster mitigation funds available as required by statute, communicate the status of current BRIC projects to the states, and file status reports with the court outlining any actions taken or planned to comply with the order. The order also requires FEMA to issue a fiscal year 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the BRIC program within 21 days.

Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding nationwide. In Vermont, BRIC funding is primarily used to plan and design infrastructure projects to reduce risks of natural disasters, including floods. For example, a Lower Whetstone Brook Project Scoping Study in Brattleboro, totaling $127,760 of federal funds, has now been cancelled. This project would have assessed floodplain restoration opportunities in a stretch of river to significantly reduce flood levels during high-flow storm events in a heavily populated downtown area.

Joining Attorney General Clarkin securing this order are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

A copy of the court order is available on our website.

CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, 802-828-3171