Disaster preparedness funds that were destined for Washington communities are still being held up by the Trump administration, despite a court ordering their release, Attorney General Nick Brown said Tuesday.

Brown and a coalition of states on Tuesday asked a federal court in Massachusetts to enforce its December order requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency to restore the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program. About two dozen projects in Washington totaling more than $150 million have been “in limbo,” according to Brown’s office.

The Trump administration in April abruptly scuttled the grant program, calling it “wasteful and ineffective” in a news release. The rescission pulled the rug from communities that had been awarded the funds to prepare for wildfires, flooding and other disasters made worse by climate change.

Over the past four years, the agency had selected about 2,000 projects across the U.S. to receive a total of about $4.5 billion in program funding, according to the complaint.

Projects in Washington, including an emergency power source for a hospital and school district in Klickitat County and flood protection for the communities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen, were among those awarded federal funds. In one case, over $31 million in state and local funds had already been spent on project design, permitting, and preconstruction work when the federal program was terminated, according to the complaint filed in July.

A coalition of states led by Brown sued in July to stop FEMA from canceling the program. The judge handed down a win for the states in December, ordering the restoration of the funds.

“This is a case about unlawful Executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds for a specific and compelling purpose, and no more than that, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns wrote in his ruling.

But nothing has changed since the December order, according to Tuesday’s filing. The $150 million destined for Washington is still in limbo, according to Brown’s office.

“Every day our communities have to wait for these funds leaves them vulnerable to the kind of devastation we saw from flooding in December,” Brown said in a news release. “More delay puts homes, businesses, and lives at risk.”

These are not disaster response funds but are instead intended to help equip communities with resources to protect lives and infrastructure when disasters arrive.

This program has supported projects like evacuation shelters and flood walls, and efforts to fortify roads and drinking water infrastructure, according to Brown’s office. Each dollar spent on mitigation saves an average of $6 in postdisaster costs, according to the July complaint.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson last month asked President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration and $21.3 million to help people recover from catastrophic December flooding. And on Tuesday, Ferguson said the flooding had caused an estimated $182.3 million in damage to roads, levees and other infrastructure, though he said the figure could grow. The state submitted a formal application for federal disaster aid, which could cover up to 75% of those costs.

The U.S. has seen a dramatic increase in the frequency of billion-dollar disasters since 1980, according to Climate Central, with more extreme weather and more people in harm’s way.

The total costs of these disasters since 1980 have exceeded $3.1 trillion, according to Climate Central. Nearly two dozen of these disasters in 2025 cost an estimated $115 billion in damage.

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(Seattle Times staff reporter Jim Brunner contributed to this report.)

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