Gov. Josh Shapiro joined a multistate lawsuit with 22 other states and the District of Columbia to protect public health in Pennsylvania after the Trump Administration abruptly and arbitrarily canceled more than half a billion dollars in public health grants for Pennsylvania state agencies that support work to prevent the spread of infectious diseases (including Hi-Path Avian Influenza [HPAI] and measles), ensure access to immunizations, provide mental health and substance abuse services and improve long-term care for older Pennsylvanians.

With this lawsuit, the coalition is seeking a temporary restraining order to invalidate the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HSS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s and HHS’ mass grant terminations in the suing states, arguing that the actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The states are also asking the court to prevent HHS from maintaining or reinstating the terminations and any agency actions implementing them.

On March 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notified the Commonwealth that the CDC was abruptly terminating funding for multiple critical public health grants. These terminations cut more than half a billion dollars legally owed to the Pennsylvania departments of Health (DOH), Human Services (DHS), and Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), and further impact funding that supports over 150 Commonwealth employees and contracted staff.

According to a press release, the Shapiro Administration says the federal government entered into a contract with these Commonwealth agencies, overseen by the Governor, and promised to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in funding appropriated by Congress for critically important public health programs approved by the CDC and by the General Assembly. With this funding cut, the Trump Administration is unlawfully breaking its contract with the Commonwealth, says the governor.

“The federal government broke its half billion-dollar contract with the Commonwealth and as a result of this unlawful action, is undermining our ability to protect the health of Pennsylvania’s children and families,” said Shapiro. “It is my job to defend the taxpayers of this Commonwealth, and this is funding owed to the people of Pennsylvania.

“But the Trump Administration abruptly canceled Congressionally-appropriated federal funding that supports critical Pennsylvania-based initiatives like infectious disease prevention, long-term care for our seniors, and immunizations for children. When I sign a legally-binding agreement, I follow through with it – and with today’s action, I’m just asking our federal government to do the same.”

In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, the coalition of attorneys general assert that the mass terminations violate federal law because the end of the pandemic is not a “for cause” basis for ending the grants, especially since none of the appropriated funds are tied to the end of the pandemic which occurred more than a year ago. HHS’ position, up until a few days ago, was that the end of the pandemic did not affect the availability of these grant funds. Moreover, for some of the grants, termination “for cause” is not a permissible basis for termination, yet the federal government unlawfully terminated them.

The contracts unlawfully canceled last week are critical to the ongoing public health work across Pennsylvania state agencies. Shapiro laid out some of the specific impacts to the state.

At DOH, the cuts will impact efforts to identify, track and respond to the spread of infectious diseases – like HPAI threatening Pennsylvania farms – and directly threaten the Department’s ability to ensure Pennsylvania children and underserved, hard-to-reach communities have access to immunizations for preventable diseases like measles. At DHS, these cuts will affect the agency’s ability to help counties and local providers efficiently serve extremely vulnerable individuals who are experiencing severe mental health conditions, and limit the amount of technical assistance and training available to providers. Meanwhile, at DDAP, these terminated grants mean the Commonwealth won’t be able to allocate money to local treatment authorities for substance use disorder intervention, treatment and recovery services.

This federal funding was also set to be used for renovations to DOH’s state public health laboratory to address major safety concerns. Cutting this funding will reduce the Commonwealth’s ability to conduct timely, accurate, and safe testing – potentially shutting down important testing for diseases like influenza, HPAI, and rabies. The termination of these funds is not simply a loss of money, but a significant risk to the progress we have made and the work we continue to do to protect public health in Pennsylvania said the governor.

These unlawful cuts will weaken Pennsylvania’s immunization registry – which means local vaccine clinics will not be able to provide vaccines for preventable diseases like measles – increasing the spread of these diseases, and health care providers will not be able to report vaccinations or look up patients’ vaccine records. This loss of funding also means a stop to critical services for the disability community, including work to build partnerships between health care providers, community organizations and government entities to improve the well-being of people with disabilities. The cuts further impact research on the inaccessibility of medical equipment for people with disabilities in health care settings.

Additionally, this decision by the federal government terminates the Long-Term Care RISE program which improves quality care for residents in nursing homes, personal care homes, and assisted living facilities by providing funding to local county and municipal health departments to enhance workforce capacity, surveillance methods and infection prevention. This will have severe consequences for Pennsylvania’s long-term care system, which is already struggling with workforce shortages and increased demand.

The lawsuit is co-led by Colorado, Rhode Island, California, Minnesota, and Washington and joined by Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin.