Los Angeles County Supervisors Seek Legal Options to Release Overdue Federal Disaster Funds

The delay affects hundreds of millions of dollars intended for completed recovery work and future disaster-protection projects such as power line undergrounding and home fire hardening in Los Angeles County.

• •The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed its attorneys and CEO to report on the status of pending federal disaster funds and possible legal steps to free up the money.
• •The county applied to FEMA for more than $455 million to reimburse 190 fire-recovery projects following a January 2025 disaster declaration by then-President Joe Biden.
• •Less than $1.4 million of the FEMA reimbursement requested has been released 22 months after the fires, with projects remaining pending final obligation.
• •The county applied for about $347 million through the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for projects including home fire hardening, power line undergrounding, and water system upgrades.
• •No Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding has been awarded to the county for this disaster to date.
• •Horvath's motion contends that the Trump administration was prioritizing disaster-relief funding to historically Republican states and jurisdictions.
• •FEMA data cited in the motion indicates $2.5 billion was obligated to North Carolina, $1.6 billion to Georgia, $1.6 billion to Florida, $637 million to Tennessee, $556 million to South Carolina, and $520 million to Texas.
• •County attorneys and the CEO are instructed to report back next week in closed session regarding potential legal recourse.
• •A Fortune magazine report stated that a recent study found the current administration approved 90% of requests from states where the governor and senators were Republicans, compared to 23% for all-Democrat states.
• •An Urban Institute analysis found 84% of funding requests were approved for states Trump won in 2024, versus 42% for states he lost.
• •A White House spokesperson denied politicization of disaster relief, stating the administration conducts more extensive reviews to ensure efficient use of tax dollars.
• •President Trump previously made public statements tying disaster funding release to politics, though he later claimed the remarks were a joke.