Extreme weather

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, has introduced legislation to create a FEMA grant program providing $100 million annually from fiscal years 2027 through 2031 to help colleges and universities prepare for hurricanes and other emergencies. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, comes after Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Irma caused major disruptions at universities in Louisiana and Florida.

Individual grants would range from $250,000 to $5 million, which institutions could use to fund emergency management personnel, update emergency plans, or build emergency operations and refuge centers. FEMA would be required to report to Congress after three years on how the funds were used and their effectiveness.

Carter and Moskowitz, co-chairs of the Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Caucus, said colleges face overlapping risks from extreme weather to campus shootings and need dedicated resources to keep students safe. As a national competitive program, funding would not be guaranteed for any specific state, though a Carter spokesperson said Louisiana schools are among the intended applicants.

Illinois made history last fall as the first state to pass a law preparing for climate-driven migration, but implementation of the Climate Displacement Act has stalled a year later. The law created a 17-seat task force to study how domestic and international climate migration could strain the state's infrastructure and resources, with a first report due in December. As of last week, only one appointment had been made to the board, and officials have yet to convene it despite the looming deadline.

State Senator Graciela Guzman, who sponsored the bill after California's 2025 wildfires, said she has received no clear timeline from Governor JB Pritzker's administration, though Senate President Don Harmon said he would move to appoint her to the task force. Illinois, along with parts of the Midwest, has been floated as a potential "climate haven," though experts dispute the concept given the state's own recent flooding, tornadoes, and wildfire smoke. Other states, including Maine, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Alaska, have taken more limited steps toward climate relocation planning.