A ruling issued Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns orders the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide states and local governments with details of grant allocations from the federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, after a move to end it was deemed “illegal” by a previous court ruling.
In his ruling, Stearns acknowledged “tangible steps” by FEMA to release the money and said the delays can, in part, “be attributed to staffing shortages resulting from layoffs and the current budgetary freeze” with the Department of Homeland Security partially shutdown amid a lapse in funding.
He also noted the departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired last week. She was replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who hasn’t yet been confirmed as the new secretary.
“The court also understands that a new Secretary will soon be appointed and that the transition process will necessarily require some time and adjustment,” Stearns wrote.
Campbell said the ruling “will allow critical mitigation projects that protect us against floods, wildfires, power outages, and other disasters to proceed and bring urgently needed relief to communities across the country.”
“But let’s be clear: the Trump administration should have complied with the original court order in December instead of ignoring the law and leaving communities vulnerable to these disasters in the meantime,” she said in a prepared statement.
Last April, the Trump administration announced it was cancelling the BRIC program, which has been used by states and local governments to fund projects designed to prepare for disasters like flooding, tornadoes and fires that are prompted by climate change.
The move was part of broader efforts to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse” in federal funding, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said.
Officials said the move to eliminate the program, which was created during the first Trump administration, will save taxpayers’ money while improving how the agency delivers aid during emergencies.
“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” FEMA said in a prepared statement. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”
The program had about $1 billion in funding in the pipeline as part of the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. Roughly $133 million has already been distributed to 450 applicants, according to FEMA.
In July, Campbell co-led a group of 23 Democratic AGs that sued to block the order, claiming it would choke off the funding for states and local governments across the country who would be “forced to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects depending on this funding.”
Overall, Massachusetts stood to lose $90 million in FEMA funding earmarked for regional planning boards and nearly two dozen communities.
That included $320,000 for Rockport’s redesign of the Thatcher Road corridor and $8,437 for a project to update the town’s building codes. FEMA also yanked $50,250 meant to be used for Newburyport to update its drinking water regulations.
To date, FEMA has distributed more than $5 billion in grants through the BRIC program.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
© 2026 the Gloucester Daily Times (Gloucester, Mass.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
