FEMA is telling states to prepare to handle more disasters with less federal help, adding to months of uncertainty over the future of federal emergency management funding and disaster assistance. For counties, the shift could mean more pressure on state and local budgets to maintain response and recovery capacity when federal support vanishes.
According to POLITICO, FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton told state emergency management leaders that states need stronger financial reserves and emergency capabilities to manage more disasters without relying on federal assistance.
The administration is also considering changes that could reduce federal disaster aid within months and leave states with a larger share of response and recovery costs. Hamilton has pushed for a smaller federal role focused more heavily on catastrophic events that exceed state and local capacity.
That direction closely follows recommendations from the President’s FEMA Review Council.
As previously reported on Conduit Street, the Council called for a system that is “locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported,” including higher thresholds for federal disaster declarations, greater state responsibility for recovery, and a smaller FEMA role in more routine disasters.
The Review Council also recommended tying federal cost shares to state preparedness, reserves, mitigation efforts, insurance coverage, and other measures. Several of those changes would require congressional action, but FEMA’s latest comments suggest the agency is already preparing states for a broader shift in responsibility.
Counties already carry much of that responsibility on the ground. County governments fund emergency management staff, planning, communications, debris removal, public safety operations, infrastructure repairs, and other costs before, during, and after disasters.
Maryland has already seen the consequences when federal disaster assistance does not come through. FEMA denied a major disaster declaration following severe flooding in Western Maryland, then denied a subsequent appeal, leaving Maryland and the affected counties responsible for costs even though the damage met federal assistance thresholds.
Federal preparedness funding remains unsettled, too. As previously reported on Conduit Street, FEMA recently lifted holds affecting portions of Maryland’s federal fiscal 2025 Homeland Security Grant Program, while the Maryland Department of Emergency Management continues reviewing projects before assuring reimbursement. Separate questions remain around the fiscal 2026 Homeland Security Grant Program and Emergency Management Performance Grant funding, including federal terms and conditions that Maryland continues to review.
Maryland is also studying how to put emergency management funding on a more stable footing. In the 2026 session, the General Assembly passed a MACo-backed bill directing a workgroup to examine current funding, federal changes, insurance pressures, and long-term options for supporting emergency management across the state.
A smaller federal disaster role would raise the stakes around that work. Counties still have to maintain response capacity regardless of whether a disaster ultimately qualifies for federal assistance.
Stay tuned to Conduit Street for more information.
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POLITICO: FEMA tells states to handle disasters on their own
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