A group of North Carolina legislators are hammering out details for a proposed $530 million to fund Hurricane Helene recovery efforts across Western North Carolina.
The bill, currently with a conference committee after votes in the state House and Senate, is expected to be the largest allocation of state money so far toward WNC Helene recovery.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein pushed lawmakers in the Republican-controlled General Assembly for speedy approval on direct funding for WNC communities.
"People need to get back in their homes. Roads and bridges need to be fixed. Businesses need to keep their doors open and their employees hired鈥�," Stein said in the State of the State last week. "We need that money now. Heck, we needed it yesterday."
Lawmakers have been working on the current recovery funding bill since introduction on the floor in early February with much of the discussion about the bill happening in the House select committee specific to Helene recovery.
The committee was created in by then-House Speaker Tim Moore.
鈥淭he creation of this committee is a critical step toward helping western North Carolina recover and rebuild after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene,鈥� Moore said in a press release. 鈥淏y hearing from key stakeholders and resources, we can ensure that our future response is coordinated, effective, and focused on the needs of the affected communities."
Select committees in the General Assembly are established when a significant part of the state is facing a particular issue. The body differs from permanent standing committees for spending and decisions around issues like education, for example.
"Select committees generally tend to be very much focused on one narrow issue and when their business is done, that committee goes away,鈥� Michael Bitzer, political scientist and politics department chair at Catawba College, explained.
The Hurricane Recovery select committee is chaired by N.C. Reps. John Bell (R-Wayne) and Dudley Greene (R-McDowell).
The six vice chairs of the committee are Republican representatives whose counties were deeply impacted by the storm: N.C. Rep. Jennifer Balkcom (R-117), who represents Henderson County; Rep. Jake Johnson (R- 113), who represents Henderson, McDowell, Polk, and Rutherford counties; Rep. Ray Prickett (R-93) of Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga counties; Rep. Mark Pless (R-118), who represents Madison and Haywood Counties; Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-119), who represents Transylvania, Jackson and Swain counties; and Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-120) of Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties.
The committee鈥檚 36 members include Reps. Bryan Turner (D-116), Lindsey Prather (D-115) and Eric Ager (R-114), all of Buncombe County.
鈥淚 would say the reason for that pretty august number of people serving on it is because most likely every member from Western North Carolina wanted to be on that committee,鈥� Bitzer said. 鈥淭hat shows from the legislators鈥� point of view how engaged how important this particular issue is.鈥�
At the end of 2024, then-Gov. Roy Cooper鈥檚 staff estimated that the cost to rebuild the region would be about $60 billion. So far, the state has allocated about $1 billion in spending. In Stein asked the federal government for an additional $19 million in support.
Bitzer said overall the approach of the Helene select committee shows that the legislature is taking an incremental approach to the funding.
鈥淭his kind of incrementalism is probably their best way to approach things to make sure that there is complete coverage for all the issues that surround this kind of monumental topic for the state,鈥� Bitzer said, listing transportation, the rebuilding of roads, infrastructure, and disaster mitigation all as topics central to recovery funding talks.
The current recovery bill, which started in the House, was discussed in , which were recorded and are available for viewing online.
鈥淐ertainly making the live proceedings available is certainly a good source of what we call government sunshine, certainly transparency and accountability,鈥� Bitzer said.
The bill is now in a conference committee with members of both chambers after majority approval in the Senate led to changes in the legislation. However, the House has not accepted the Senate version.
鈥淚t'll get it bounced back and forth until both chambers pass identical pieces of legislation, then it'll go to the governor, most likely for his signature,鈥� Bitzer said. 鈥淥nce that bill becomes law, then the money can start to be tapped into the executive branch, the governor's agencies will start spending those monies.鈥�
鈥淚t is up to the legislature's decisions as to how much funding will be put forward and where the priorities are for that funding, but ultimately it is the governor in the executive branch that's responsible for carrying out those kinds of decisions,鈥� Bitzer said. 鈥淭his is the separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branch.鈥�
The reported back on the recovery bill to the House on Tuesday evening.
The House voted in favor of House Bill 47 with 115 affirmative and one against. The bill is being sent to the Senate and is expected to be voted on this week.
