Colorado joins lawsuit over FEMA disaster relief limits

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined 12 other attorneys general in suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accusing the agencies of unlawfully restricting emergency management and disaster relief funding promised to states.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, and FEMA as defendants. It claims the Trump administration is again imposing illegal and burdensome conditions on grants that support state emergency and homeland security programs.

“The Trump administration’s reckless and lawless actions to undermine emergency management and disaster funding are designed to harm Colorado and other states that won’t be bullied,” Weiser said in a statement. “Playing political games with preparedness funding is appalling. These are funds that Colorado is entitled to use and needs to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters like wildfires and floods. I will always fight for Colorado and challenge the lawless actions of this administration.”

According to the lawsuit, the administration has attempted to scale back FEMA’s role and shift the responsibility of disaster response to states by denying emergency declarations, withholding grants, and attaching unconstitutional conditions to long-standing funding programs.

The states argue that illegal terms were added to the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) and the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), creating obstacles to accessing funds allocated by Congress. In Colorado, FEMA awarded the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management $5.7 million in EMPG funding and $23 million in HSGP funding. The department has not accepted either award, due in part to the disputed terms.

The federal government has also placed an improper hold on one grant and altered expenditure timelines, which the states claim exceed federal authority and fail to follow required procedures.

Weiser joined attorneys general from Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin, along with the governor of Kentucky, in filing the suit.