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Oregon emergency management warns committee of FEMA changes, shrinking mitigation funding and rising state costs
Summary
Erin McMahon, OEM director and state homeland security advisor, told the committee recent DHS/FEMA changes have shortened grant timelines, altered cost‑shares and put about $18 million in BRIC projects at risk; she urged tracking of shifting federal thresholds, noted $180 million in COVID reimbursement pending at DHS, and said the state will need to fill gaps as federal assistance changes.
Erin McMahon, director of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management and the state homeland security advisor, gave a high‑level briefing on Sept. 30 about the effects of recent federal changes to Department of Homeland Security and FEMA programs and what that means for Oregon communities.
McMahon said Oregon has received substantial federal public‑assistance dollars over the past decade but that recent federal changes — including delayed notices of funding opportunity, shortened program windows and proposed adjustments to cost‑share thresholds — have put mitigation projects and local preparedness funding at risk.
"Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) has been canceled going forward," McMahon said, and she warned that roughly $18,000,000 in projects that communities had planned are now in question. She highlighted the Emergency Management Performance Grant, which typically covers local emergency manager salaries and operates on a 50/50 cost share, and said those funds are essential to rural jurisdictions that depend on a single emergency manager.
McMahon also told the committee that OEM is pressing other federal agencies — SBA, USACE, USDA — to find alternative funding when FEMA assistance is unavailable, and that OEM is tracking a large COVID reimbursement package (over $180,000,000) that is pending at DHS due to an additional signatory requirement.
She urged lawmakers to consider state options to fund emergency managers and mitigation accounts if federal dollars shrink and said OEM will continue to provide detailed breakdowns of program changes and amounts on request.
