MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul announced that Wisconsin and a coalition of states secured a court order protecting federal funding for emergency preparedness and public safety.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by AG Kaul and 20 other attorneys general against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). AG Kaul and the coalition sued the Trump administration for threatening to withhold critical emergency preparedness funding and attempting to strongarm states into advancing the Trump administration’s agenda, potentially undermining public safety.
“Funding that will help bolster emergency preparedness shouldn’t have been put at risk,” said AG Kaul. “Pursuant to this ruling, this funding will be safeguarded from this attempt by the Trump administration to exceed its authority.”
In the decision, the court agreed that DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it tied unrelated conditions to receipt of FEMA funds and that the conditions violated the Constitution’s Spending Clause. The court further determined that DHS made no serious attempt to provide a fact-based reason for its action and that the “vague and confusing language” used in the conditions made it nearly impossible for states to comply.
In filing the lawsuit, AG Kaul and the coalition argued that the conditions exceed DHS’s legal authority and violate the Constitution because the programs in question were established to help states prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from catastrophic disasters, not advance unrelated Trump administration priorities. The district court agreed, holding that imposing the conditions on all DHS and FEMA programs, regardless of the purpose of those programs, was unlawful.
Joining AG Kaul in this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Vermont.
View this press release on the DOJ website here.
