By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state Senate Republicans advanced a disaster recovery measure Tuesday to direct $533 million in additional spending to meet still-pressing needs from Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding and destruction last fall, but it also locates more relief funding for earlier storms.
The legislation that cleared the Senate’s budget-writing committee is wider in scope than a $500 million relief package approved unanimously last week by the House that focused on Helene’s destruction in western North Carolina.
Spending provisions within the Senate proposal locates an additional $217 million to complete lingering home construction projects for victims of Hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018 in eastern North Carolina. The package also lays the groundwork to assist farmers who suffered agricultural losses last year — not just from Helene but also from drought and tornadoes.
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“We feel that we need to move with urgency to get this bill across the finish line,” said Sen. Brent Jackson, a Senate Appropriations Committee chairman. “Citizens across all our 100 counties faced disasters in 2024.”
A Senate floor vote on the chamber’s bill was expected Wednesday. While House Republicans also are advancing agricultural assistance and Matthew and Florence relief in other measures, top House and Senate leaders later Tuesday said they believed they could agree upon a final supplemental disaster relief bill quickly — possibly by the end of the week — then send it to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desk.
“Everybody wants the same thing — to get people help,” said state Rep. John Bell, who has been shepherding the House’s $500 million measure.
Last month, Stein offered his own $1.07 billion proposal for additional Helene relief. The amount would double the money already appropriated or made available by the General Assembly for Helene recovery activities since late last year. But GOP legislators seek to spend less now, saying they want to be careful about maximizing federal matching funds and avoiding mistakes after previous storms.
North Carolina state officials reported over 100 deaths from Helene, which caused a record $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs. More than five months later, over 5,700 households in western counties are still receiving temporary housing assistance and more than 200 public roads in the region remain closed or just partially opened, according to state data.
Legislative leaders and Stein agree that more money will be allocated for Helene relief later this year in the state budget because the needs are so great, even with billions arriving from Washington.
“The underlying message I want to leave with people is we’re making progress but it’s just a start,” Stein said of Helene recovery at the monthly meeting of statewide elected officials earlier Tuesday. “This work is long term and it’s going to be hard, and we all have to be there together.”
Like the House legislation, the Senate proposal emphasizes repairs for damaged homes, private bridges and roads, assistance to farmers and rebuilding infrastructure adjacent to small businesses. The Senate plan omits a House provision that would allow $15 million to go to nonprofit organizations that could then offer grants to small businesses. Stein and fellow Democrats have pleaded for direct grants to help businesses already weighed down with loans.
The Senate plan does provide money — although not as much as Stein sought — for local school districts that closed for many weeks due to Helene to offer summer school instruction. The House plan left out the program.
Republican lawmakers have been angry with delays in the Florence and Matthew housing reconstruction program, which was created by then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration and funded with federal dollars.
While about 3,300 home construction projects have been completed through the state Office of Recovery and Resiliency, state funds are now needed to complete another 1,000 that remain in various stages of construction. Office leaders blamed the delays on the COVID-19 pandemic, rising construction costs, labor shortages and ultimately management mistakes. The agency’s chief operating officer left her job in November.
Both the Senate measure and a separate House bill also approved Tuesday in another committee provides the $217 million, but each bill requires significant monitoring and oversight requirements in how it’s spent. Language in both bills would ultimately shut down the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. Stein’s administration is handling Helene-related home reconstruction through a new agency.