State attorney general Anne Lopez and a coalition of 22 other attorneys general filed a motion this week to compel the Trump administration to unfreeze Federal Emergency Management Agency funding necessary for the continued operation of a program that connects Maui wildfire survivors with disaster case managers.

What You Need To Know

  • The coalition filed a renewed second motion to enforce the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island’s previous orders for FEMA to unfreeze obligated funding
  • The court previously issued a temporary restraining order preventing the administration from pausing or otherwise cutting off federal grants and loans to state programs and initiatives, as President Donald Trump had ordered upon taking office in January

The coalition filed a renewed second motion to enforce the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island’s previous orders for FEMA to unfreeze obligated funding.

The court previously issued a temporary restraining order preventing the administration from pausing or otherwise cutting off federal grants and loans to state programs and initiatives, as President Donald Trump had ordered upon taking office in January. Earlier this month, the court replaced the TRO with a preliminary injunction.

“There is a court order in place that prohibits FEMA from freezing, blocking, canceling, suspending, terminating, or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated funds to Hawaii and other plaintiff states in accordance with a categorical pause or freeze of funding, yet FEMA has not complied,” Lopez said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The motion asserts that the funding disruption has negatively impacted the Hawaii Department of Human Services’ Disaster Case Management Program, which is funded by FEMA. According to the AG’s office, the program could be forced to discontinue service as early as April 4 if withheld funds are not released.

DCMP provides for wildfire survivors to receive assistance from specially trained disaster case managers to assess and address unmet disaster-related needs and create individualized disaster-recovery plans.

DCMP currently has 1,729 active cases, representing 4,431 individuals.

“Before FEMA initiated its categorical, indefinite pause of funding, Hawaii usually received reimbursement within approximately one week of submitting a request, a time period that allowed for FEMA’s review and the mechanics of the fund transfer,” the motion states. “As of today, Hawaii has waited nearly 30 days for reimbursement. This abrupt change in practice is near fatal because a requirement of FEMA regarding these grant funds is that Hawaii is precluded from maintaining more than three business days’ worth of cash on hand.”

The motion states that if Hawaii does not receive reimbursement by March 31, it will be forced to discontinue DCMP operations.

“The DCMP provides the comprehensive recovery support that our survivors need to rebuild their lives,” said DHS deputy director Trista Speer. “This abrupt delay in disbursement of these critical funds essentially cripples our ability to sustain current operations. This means the thousands of wildfire survivors we serve will be left without access to the support they need to navigate their complex recovery journeys.”

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.