Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
Republican South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden signed an executive order this week to plan for future disasters as the Trump administration works to shift the responsibility for disaster relief to state and local entities.
“We pray that the most challenging circumstances will never arise, but we are preparing so that South Dakota can face such situations with determination, resilience, and grit,” Rhoden said in a press release.
President Trump has called the Federal Emergency Management Agency a “disaster” and suggested it might “go away.” FEMA is led by Homeland Security Secretary and former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Trump signed an executive order in March titled “Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness,” which says “federal policy must rightly recognize that preparedness is most effectively owned and managed at the State, local, and even individual levels.”
The Trump order also instructs federal agencies to reevaluate grants, contracts, and technical assistance funding programs. FEMA has since ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The 2021 program aimed to direct $1 billion in funding toward infrastructure projects to help communities across the U.S. “reduce their hazard risk” as they “build capability and capacity.” According to a tally of federal cuts compiled and updated weekly by the governor’s office, $8.9 million in South Dakota projects were set to benefit from BRIC grants.
Critics say the shift in disaster relief responsibilities and funding from the federal government to state and local governments will leave poorer, rural states unprepared and unable to respond.
Rhoden says the task force will “support” the Trump administration’s executive order.
Rhoden dubbed the group the Governor’s Resilience and Infrastructure Task Force, or GRIT. He said the task force will serve as an advisory body to “develop policy recommendations, assess risks and vulnerabilities, and support long-term planning and investment in critical infrastructure systems across our state.”
The task force will be chaired by Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. Adjutant General Mark Morrell of the South Dakota National Guard will serve as vice chair. Venhuizen said the task force is more than a response to President Trump ending programs and planning to shift responsibilities to states. He said the concept of the task force has been under consideration since last year.