Jennifer Davenport, Acting Attorney General

February 17, 2026

Multistate Coalition Seeks Enforcement of 2025 Court Ruling Prohibiting Trump Administration from Terminating Essential Disaster Response Program

View Motion to Enforce | View Proposed Order | View Memo

TRENTON – Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and a coalition of 21 other states and the District of Columbia asked a U.S. District Court today to enforce its December 2025 order prohibiting the Trump Administration from terminating the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which provides New Jersey communities with critical resources to fortify their infrastructure against natural disasters.

As today’s filing explains, the multistate coalition won a December 2025 order from the U.S. District Court barring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from terminating the BRIC program, but the Trump Administration has not yet signaled that it has any intention of complying with the court order, and FEMA regional offices appear to be delaying implementation of the court’s order.

The motion filed today seeks immediate action from the court to ensure that the Trump Administration does not continue to deprive states of the essential funding provided through the BRIC program. For 30 years, the BRIC program has provided communities with resources that have saved lives, reduced injury, protected property, and saved money that otherwise would been spent on post-disaster costs. Every dollar FEMA spends on mitigation—primarily through the BRIC program—saves an average of six dollars in post-disaster costs. In New Jersey alone, federally funded grants for disaster mitigation have saved New Jerseyans more than $10 billion in post-disaster costs.

“New Jersey is no stranger to natural disasters that have devastated our state. Instead of working with us to prepare for the next major natural disaster and reduce the massive costs these catastrophic storms impose, the Trump Administration is doing everything in its power—now even going so far as to ignore court orders—to keep New Jerseyans from accessing critical federal resources for disaster preparedness,” said Acting Attorney General Davenport. “The Trump Administration’s actions are as unconscionable as they are unlawful, and they will dramatically increase the costs that hard-working New Jerseyans will bear when the next natural disaster strikes. Make no mistake: We will do everything in our power to protect these critical programs from unlawful attacks out of Washington.”

“By funding innovative and proactive flooding resilience projects, the BRIC program is critical to reducing the cost of post-disaster relief,” said Acting Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Ed Potosnak. “We stand firmly with our partners from across the nation in fighting to ensure the continuation of this program. I commend Acting Attorney General Davenport and her team for helping us to protect lives and property while delivering on Governor Sherrill’s promise of efficiency and affordability for the people of New Jersey.”

As outlined in today’s motion, the states have seen no signs that the Trump Administration has reversed the unlawful termination of the BRIC program. Projects that are ready to move forward remain stalled, and FEMA has been unable to provide any information or guidance. States have been unable to obtain any grant information or to move their projects from planning phases to construction phases.

Some communications from FEMA regional offices appear to indicate that the agency may have unilaterally decided it can delay its implementation of the court’s order. In one instance, regional FEMA staff said they had no information to share because of “ongoing litigation.” In another instance, an acting director told a state “that the situation is ‘wait and see’” and that there was a “litigation hold.” Today’s filing argues that these examples demonstrate that FEMA is actively delaying compliance with the court’s order.

The December 2025 order issued by the District Court affirmed the states’ position that FEMA’s decision to abruptly terminate the BRIC program contravenes Congress’s decision to fund it, and that the Executive Branch has no lawful authority to unilaterally refuse to spend funds appropriated by Congress. The order also concluded that FEMA’s actions violate the separation of powers, the Appropriations and Spending Clauses, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

The states now ask the court to enforce the December 11 order by requiring the federal government to make pre-disaster mitigation funds available as required by statute, communicate the status and next steps for current BRIC projects to the states, communicate the reversal of the BRIC termination to all relevant stakeholders, and file status reports with the court outlining any actions taken or planned to comply with the order.

The BRIC program supports often difficult-to-fund projects, such as constructing evacuation shelters and flood walls, safeguarding utility grids against wildfires, protecting wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, and fortifying bridges, roadways, and culverts. Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding nationwide.

Joining Acting Attorney General Davenport in filing this motion are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington, and the governors of the Commonwealths of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.