Trump signs orders to transfer disaster preparations from FEMA to state, local governments

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to try to shift the responsibility for disaster preparation to state and local governments, deepening his motivation to overhaul the federal emergency management agency.

The order, first previewed by the White House on March 10, requires review of all infrastructure, continuity, and readiness and response policies to update and simplify the federal approach.

It said state and local government “common sense” investments are addressing risks from wildfires to hurricanes and cyberattacks that will enhance national security, but do not elaborate on what they are or how they will be funded.
“On the state, local, and even personal level, equipment is most effectively owned and managed and supported by a competent, accessible and effective federal government,” the order said. “Taxpayers benefit when states have the right to make informed infrastructure choices.”

The White House said in a fact sheet on the order that the order requires amendments to critical infrastructure policies to better reflect the risks of assessments, rather than a “full-risk approach.”

It created a National Risk Register to identify, describe and measure risks to U.S. national infrastructure and simplify federal capabilities to help states work with Washington more easily. Trump ordered a review of the FEMA in January, which stopped closure of the country’s main disaster response bureau, and White House officials said the latest order was not intended to shut down the FEMA. Rob Moore, director of the National Defense Commission’s flood solutions team at the Natural Resources Commission, accused the Trump administration of systematically weakening the U.S. preparation for disaster.

“From the first day, the Trump administration has been eroding the country’s ability to plan, respond and recover for disasters,” Moore told Reuters.

“They have overseen the firing of 1,000 FEMA employees — they won’t respond to floods or wildfires there — and withhold funds from local and state governments that are working on risk reduction projects.”

Shana Udvardy, a senior researcher about the Alliance of Scientists, said she was worried that the order marks “another dangerous step” would give the community fewer resources to prepare for future disasters.

“The executive order shifts much of the responsibility for preparing for a disaster to state and local governments, requiring them to invest more expensive infrastructure without outlining the federal role,” she said.