A coalition of local governments led by Santa Clara County and San Francisco are suing the Trump administration over attempts to impose conditions on more than $350 million in emergency and disaster preparedness funds across the 27 jurisdictions.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday, asks a federal judge to block the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency from conditioning critical funding on each city or county’s participation in immigrant enforcement efforts and the abandonment of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
This is the fifth time this year that Santa Clara County has sued the Trump administration. The county and San Francisco have teamed up on litigation against the federal government on several occasions, largely suing over attempts to condition or cut off key federal funding streams.
Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said at a Wednesday morning press conference that “for 75 years, the federal government has placed this core function of emergency preparedness and disaster response above politics.”
“We all have a right to support in the face of calamity, but the Trump administration wants to put an end to an era of prioritizing humanity over politics,” he said. “Instead, the administration wants to leverage these funds, the promise of safety and security to advance its own political agenda.”
Local governments rely on the dollars from FEMA and DHS to retrofit buildings, fund search and rescue operations and purchase equipment needed to respond to disaster, LoPresti said.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu called the conditioning of the funds “unlawful” and said the Trump administration is “asserting a right it does not have.”
“This funding means faster emergency response times, stronger regional coordination and better protection for our residents during unexpected disasters and even acts of terrorism,” he said.
Other Bay Area cities and counties that have signed onto the lawsuit include Alameda, Berkeley, Marin County, Oakland, Palo Alto, San Jose and San Mateo County. Santa Clara County and San Francisco officials said this week that the potential loss of funding is especially dire now as the region prepares to host the Super Bowl and World Cup next year — a massive undertaking that requires the Bay Area to prepare for the worst.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who previously served on the San Jose City Council, pointed to the 2017 flooding of Coyote Creek in East San Jose as an example of why federal disaster dollars are so important. The flood, which broke a 95-year-old record when the creek crested at 13.6 feet, displaced 14,000 residents and caused an estimated $100 million in damages.
“At that time, we relied on FEMA for recovery dollars so those communities could have an opportunity to actually rebuild,” Arenas said. “These events alone should put into perspective for all of us the need for communities not only to be prepared for disasters, but how critical it is to have the resources needed to recover.”
Jill Habig, the founder and CEO of the Public Rights Project — an organization that provides litigation support to public entities in civil rights cases — said that state and local governments need more support than ever now because of “federal overreach and relentless attacks.”
“Our coalition has a clear message,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to choose between safety and justice.”