Attorney General Bonta Secures Settlement to Protect AmeriCorps
Settlement ensures funding will flow without interruption for FY26-27
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, co-leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two governors, announced a settlement that stops the Trump Administration from again attempting to dismantle AmeriCorps without warning. AmeriCorps is an independent federal agency tasked with engaging Americans in meaningful community-based service that directly addresses the country’s educational, public safety, and environmental needs. Organizations rely on support from AmeriCorps to recruit, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members nationwide. The settlement resolves a multistate lawsuit brought in response to the Trump Administration’s repeated attempts to gut AmeriCorps. Previously, as a result of the lawsuit, the Trump Administration was forced to reinstate nearly $400 million in terminated AmeriCorps programs and agreed to release over $184 million in funds to service programs in California and across the country. This settlement ensures these protections continue through Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-2027.
“AmeriCorps volunteers represent the best of who we are as a country,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s settlement ensures AmeriCorps volunteers and the communities they serve have certainty that these vital volunteer programs will continue without disruption in the upcoming service year, extending the relief we previously secured in court. I’m proud to have worked with states across the nation in protecting this vital service program.”
As part of the settlement, the Trump Administration commits to obligate all FY 2026-2027 congressionally allocated AmeriCorps funds by September 30, 2026. The Trump Administration further stipulates that AmeriCorps has no intention of engaging in mass layoffs or program terminations for FY 2026-2027, and is required to notify the coalition with at least 30 days’ notice if it intends to undertake any mass terminations of AmeriCorps staff or volunteer programs to give the coalition the opportunity to challenge any such actions.
The settlement pauses the litigation through February 1, 2027, at which point the coalition will voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice, provided AmeriCorps has complied with its commitments. Should the coalition determine that AmeriCorps has not complied, it may move the court to lift the stay and resume litigation. The coalition also retains the right to challenge other unlawful conduct by AmeriCorps, whether through an amended complaint during the stay or a new action during or after the stay.
Attorney General Bonta and the coalition filed its lawsuit in April 2025, after the Trump Administration moved to eliminate nearly 90% of AmeriCorps’ workforce, cancel its contracts, and close $400 million worth of AmeriCorps-supported programs. In June 2025, a federal court granted the coalition’s motion for a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to reinstate programs that had been unlawfully canceled. Then in August 2025, following a further motion for a preliminary injunction by the coalition, the federal Office of Management and Budget agreed to release more than $184 million in AmeriCorps funding it had withheld.
Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Maryland, Colorado, Delaware, Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, in filing the settlement.
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