FEMA must restore $17.5M in North Carolina emergency worker grants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security must restore millions in funding to North Carolina and other states after a federal judge ruled the agencies placed unlawful restrictions on emergency management grants, according to court documents filed on Dec. 23.

The ruling arises from a lawsuit over restrictions placed on FEMA grant programs without the approval of Congress. The grants are used to pay the state's emergency workers and fund disaster response, according to the North Carolina Attorney General's Office.

During Tropical Storm Helene, which devastated the region in late September 2024, the office said North Carolina used these funds to activate and deploy trained emergency management personnel, coordinate lifesaving rescue operations and shelters, and operate during widespread power and communications outages.

Alongside 11 other states, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson  sued the agencies in November, saying the restrictions functionally defunded state and local first responders by making the appropriated grant funds "largely unusable."

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and named acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

On Dec. 23, United States Magistrate Judge Amy Potter ruled FEMA overstepped its statutory authority when enacting a "Population Certification Hold" on funding through the Emergency Management Performance Grants program. The new policy was announced after North Carolina was awarded $8.5 million.

The hold would have required states to certify their population as of Sept. 30 and prove that it "does not include individuals that have been removed from the State pursuant to the immigration laws of the United States." The agency planned to hold the funding until it approved the state's findings and methodology.

Potter ruled the agencies overstepped their authority. She wrote that federal law requires the emergency management grant amounts be appropriated by population size, based on the most recent population data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The defendants argued that the additional population numbers provided by the states would be used to supplement the census data, not replace it. Potter called this "nonsensical."

"Subtracting the number of people removed from the state does not supplement the census numbers, it changes it," Potter wrote.

Previous reporting: NC Attorney General sues FEMA over $17.5 million in withheld grants for emergency workers

FEMA also announced a different policy change after grants had already been awarded. It shortened the period states have to spend funds and complete all activities to be reimbursed, from three years to one.

Potter found this change to be "arbitrary and capricious." The new policy applied to both the emergency management grant and the Homeland Security Grant Program, for which North Carolina had been awarded $21 million, according to the lawsuit.

The judge ordered FEMA to refrain from implementing or acting on these policies. She wrote that the "abrupt change in policy is particularly harmful to local emergency management." The funds were effectively "frozen" because states had no way of complying with the population certification requirements, "forcing states to reduce state and local emergency management capacity," Potter wrote.

"The court saw through FEMA's attempt to break the law and deny money that North Carolina relies on to respond to hurricanes, natural disasters, and other emergencies," Jackson said in a news release Dec. 29.

"Our state is going to get back the $17 million that Congress promised so that our emergency responders and law enforcement officers are ready to respond to the next crisis."

More: FEMA ordered to reinstate $200M in disaster mitigation funding for NC

More: NC has now received over $1B from FEMA. Where will the latest funds go?

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: FEMA must restore $17M in grants to North Carolina's emergency workers