FEMA’s acting chief says agency will shift more disaster recovery responsibilities to states

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) acting chief plans to shift responsibility for disaster recovery to states during the upcoming hurricane season, he said during a staff town hall on Thursday.

David Richardson said his intention was to “return primacy to the states” as part of an agencywide transformation.

In comments that cemented the intent of President Donald Trump’s administration to bring about a major shift in the agency’s mission, Richardson said FEMA’s intent for the 2025 “disaster season” will be to strengthen states’ abilities for response and recovery while coordinating federal assistance “when deemed necessary.”

The comments dovetail with a broad-based effort by the Trump administration to overhaul and downsize the federal government. They come just 17 days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which scientists predict will see an above-average 17 named storms and four major hurricanes. Richardson said FEMA was “to some degree, to a great degree, ready for disaster season ’25,” and that he would be submitting a plan for the season to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem by next Friday.

The agency is in a period of upheaval as the Trump administration weighs its future. President Trump has floated “getting rid of” FEMA altogether, an idea Kristi Noem has echoed. Richardson replaced former acting chief Cameron Hamilton last week, one day after Hamilton told a congressional committee that he did not think FEMA should be eliminated.

While Richardson downplayed the likelihood that FEMA would disappear altogether, he said his role was to realize Trump’s vision of how disasters are managed, which he said means pushing a “large part” of response and recovery to the states.

Some states, including Florida and Texas, are already adequately prepared for disasters, according to the acting chief. Others should prepare to shoulder more of the financial burden, he said, warning that the typical federal 75% cost share for things like repairing public infrastructure could change as soon as this summer.

“There should be some budgeting things that they have,” said Richardson. “I bet (Texas) Governor (Greg) Abbott has a rainy-day fund for fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and he doesn’t spend it on something else.”

FEMA assistance is made available to states when a Governor requests and the president approves a major disaster declaration. Those decisions are typically based on whether the event’s impact exceeds the state’s capacity to respond.

Trump has already signaled a departure from typical decision-making around disaster declarations. He has denied requests from Washington and West Virginia. Just this week, he approved a major disaster declaration for storms that struck Arkansas in March after initially denying the request.

The shift comes as the number of climate disasters in the United States grows: There were 90 major disaster declarations in 2024, and 27 climate-related events that caused more than $1 billion in damages.

While states typically lead disaster response, they rely on federal resources as needed, said Jeremy Edwards, FEMA deputy director of public affairs during the Biden Administration, and not every state will be able to take on more of that responsibility.

“It’s unclear what they mean when they say returning primacy to the states,” he said. “What does that mean when certain states don’t have the resources in their own budgets to respond to and recover from catastrophic events?”

Regarding long-term restructuring, Richardson said FEMA will begin a “mission analysis” to ensure its activities are strictly limited to what it is legally mandated to do.

“We will not do anything that is not in the statute,” he said. “If we are, we are wasting the American people’s money.”

Trump has also established a 13-member FEMA review council, chaired by Secretary Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to recommend changes to the agency.

When asked if the reforms would result in further staff reductions, Richardson said it was possible as more of the agency’s functions transfer to states. About 2,000 full-time staff have left the agency since Trump took office in January, a loss of roughly one-third of the agency’s full-time workforce.

He also said that while no programs were specific “targets” for elimination, much depended on the results of the analysis.

“If you’re outside of the statutory, you’ll become a target, period,” he said.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.