Federal court halts Trump Administration’s attack on disaster preparedness funding

For immediate release: Dec. 1, 2025

Media contact: Jackie Jena, jackie@publicrightsproject.org

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – Today, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick issued a preliminary injunction order preventing the Trump administration from imposing unlawful conditions on more than $350 million in federal emergency and disaster preparedness funds administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

“Today’s decision provides essential protection for the communities who need support to prevent and recover from disasters,” said Jill Habig, founder and CEO of Public Rights Project. “The court found these FEMA conditions likely unlawful, allowing our local partners to keep doing what they do best — protect their residents.”

“As local governments, we take our responsibility seriously to protect all members of the community from the ravages of disaster, no matter their politics,” said Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti. “We are grateful for the Court’s recognition that the Trump administration’s political agenda has no role to play in the funding that Congress appropriates every year for emergency response and recovery. Governments shouldn’t have to pass a political litmus test to be able to care for their communities, especially in the face of a disaster.”

Background
A coalition of 29 local governments filed a lawsuit on September 30 asking the court to stop DHS and FEMA from using life-saving funds as leverage for unrelated political agendas. Like local governments across the country, the plaintiffs have relied on DHS and FEMA funding for years to protect their residents and prepare for disasters, but this year, for the first time, the Administration is conditioning that funding on local governments agreeing to participate in federal immigration enforcement policies and abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The coalition of plaintiffs argue that these conditions are unconstitutional and exceed the Administration’s authority, falling far outside what Congress authorized.

Each year Congress appropriates billions of dollars to the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to distribute grants to state and local governments to support disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery efforts. State and local governments across the country rely on these federal grants to support their emergency-management functions and to deliver public safety, whether through fire department staffing, port and transit security, counterterrorism, or hazard mitigation projects like wildfire and flood prevention. Without these funds, local governments will be forced to divert scarce resources from other essential services, delay projects, or cancel them entirely.

The coalition of 29 local governments represent major population centers that are collectively responsible for the safety and well-being of tens of millions of residents. These jurisdictions meet that responsibility by preparing for potential disasters and responding to emergencies in an almost untold number of scenarios, from wildfires, floods, earthquakes, severe weather events, infectious diseases, and invasive agricultural pests, to mass shootings, acts of terrorism, or threats of physical attacks at busy international airports, mass-transit systems, large-scale special events, ports where large ships load and unload goods critical to the national economy, and more. The grant conditions being imposed by the Federal Administration would force local governments to adopt the administration’s political agenda or risk losing critical funding.

The County of Santa Clara and the City and County of San Francisco are the lead plaintiffs. Public Rights Project is representing most of the additional plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are: 

• Alameda, Calif.
• Bellingham, Wash.
• Berkeley, Calif.
• City and County of San Francisco, Calif.
• Culver City, Calif.
• King County, Wash.
• Los Angeles, Calif.
• Los Angeles County, Calif.
• Los Angeles County Fire District, Calif. 
• Marin County, Calif.
• Oakland, Calif.
• Palo Alto, Calif.
• Pasadena, Calif.
• Petaluma, Calif.
• Pierce County, Wash.
• Sacramento, Calif.
• San Diego, Calif.
• San Diego County, Calif.
• San José, Calif.
• San Mateo County, Calif.
• Santa Clara County, Calif.
• Santa Monica, Calif.
• Santa Rosa, Calif.
• Snohomish County, Wash.
• Sonoma County, Calif.
• Sonoma County Community Development Commission, Calif.
• Sonoma Sanitation, Calif.
• Sonoma Water, Calif.
• Tucson, Ariz.

The case is County of Santa Clara v. Noem (Case No. 3:25-cv-8330) and a copy of the complaint can be found here. 

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As a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Public Rights Project helps local government officials fight for civil rights. We do this by building their capacity to protect and advance civil rights, convening and connecting them on issues of civil rights, and providing legal representation to governments to help them win in court on behalf of their residents. Since our founding, we’ve built a network of over 1,300 partners, including elected officials and 227 government offices across all 50 states, and helped recover over $46 million in relief for marginalized people. www.publicrightsproject.org