BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined a coalition of 20 states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging its decision to halt the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges the termination of the program, designed to protect communities from natural disasters, is unlawful.
The BRIC program has operated for three decades, providing resources for communities nationwide to proactively strengthen infrastructure against natural disasters. Proponents of the program argue it has protected property, reduced post-disaster costs, and saved lives by focusing on preparedness.
“Any community in Maryland can be struck by a devastating natural disaster that forever changes the lives of those who live there,” Attorney General Brown said in a statement. “BRIC funding was intended to pay for critical flood protection projects in Crisfield and South Baltimore and is now in jeopardy because of the Trump administration’s funding cuts. With the deadly flooding we’ve recently seen in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Texas, this is the worst possible time to cut life-saving disaster preparedness funding.”
Following Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed legislation mandating FEMA protect communities through four functions: mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery. The BRIC program serves as the cornerstone of FEMA’s mitigation efforts. A recent study cited in the lawsuit suggests that every dollar FEMA spends on mitigation saves an average of six dollars in subsequent disaster costs.
The program supports various projects, including the construction of evacuation shelters and flood walls, safeguarding utility grids against wildfires, protecting water infrastructure, and fortifying bridges, roadways, and culverts.
According to the lawsuit, the program’s termination has forced communities across the country to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects, some of which had been in development for years with significant prior investment. This leaves communities at a heightened risk of harm from natural disasters.
Nationwide, FEMA had selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive approximately $4.5 billion in BRIC funding over the past four years. Maryland alone was awarded more than $80 million in BRIC funds from 2020 to 2023, though much of that money became unavailable after FEMA’s purported termination of the program earlier this year. This decision has jeopardized important infrastructure projects in Maryland, such as flood mitigation efforts in Crisfield and South Baltimore.
Attorney General Brown and the coalition contend that FEMA’s decision to abruptly terminate the BRIC program violates clear Congressional directives to fund pre-disaster mitigation. They also assert that the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that the program’s termination was unlawfully executed because Cameron Hamilton, who they argue was never Congressionally confirmed or qualified to be FEMA Administrator, issued the directive.
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trump administration from redirecting BRIC funds for other purposes and a permanent injunction to reverse the program’s termination, demanding the restoration of these funds to the communities that rely on them.
States joining Maryland in the lawsuit include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.
Photo via Attorney General Anthony Brown on X
