Attorney General Ellison wins order protecting Minnesota’s disaster mitigation funding

Lawsuit challenges Trump Administration decision to cut billions in disaster funding for states; Court orders FEMA not to spend funds elsewhere for duration of lawsuit

August 5, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Today, Attorney General Ellison won a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to illegally shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which was designed to protect communities across America from natural disasters before they strike. In its preliminary injunction, the Court ordered the federal government not to spend BRIC funding for any non-BRIC purpose while the lawsuit is ongoing.

"When the Trump Administration announced it was ending a program that helps states prepare for natural disasters, I filed a lawsuit to defend this life-saving program,” said Attorney General Ellison. “Today, I am pleased to have won a ruling that protects the resources that protect Minnesotans and blocks Donald Trump and his administration from using that money elsewhere. I look forward to continuing this fight to ensure Trump doesn’t funnel Minnesota’s disaster mitigation funding into tax breaks for his billionaire friends."

Background

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 preparation, the program has protected property, saved money that would have otherwise been spent on post-disaster costs, reduced injuries, and saved lives. 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.   

Responding to the catastrophic losses resulting from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Congress passed a law stating FEMA must protect communities through four interrelated functions—mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery. The BRIC program is the core of FEMA’s pre-disaster mitigation efforts. A recent study concluded that every dollar FEMA spends on mitigation saves an average of six dollars in post-disaster costs.  

The impact of the BRIC program’s termination has been devastating, with communities across the country being forced to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects depending on this funding. Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars, are now threatened. As a result of this decision, Americans from coast to coast face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters.    

Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding nationwide. In Minnesota, BRIC funding is used by counties to update their hazard mitigation plans. Terminated BRIC funding was slated to support thirty-four Minnesota counties in updating their current plans.  

Attorney General Ellison was joined in filing this lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.