$535M Helene relief stalled as NC House balks at Senate proposal

The victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina will have to wait a little longer for help.

A $535 million relief package for victims of Hurricane Helene is stalled in the North Carolina General Assembly amid a disagreement over the bill’s details. The state House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 115-0 to table a proposal by the state Senate.

House members crafted House Bill 47 and approved it last month before sending it to the state Senate. State Senators approved an amended version of the bill earlier this month, and sent their changes back to the House for approval. On Tuesday, House leaders said they need more time to consider the senate’s proposed changes.

“We just feel like there's some additional language added, maybe some things taken away, that we need to discuss further,” state Rep. Dudley Greene, R-Avery, said in a brief speech on the House floor.

“The stakes are high, and I think it's incumbent upon us to do our due diligence and make sure that we get this right,” Greene said.

Republicans hold a majority in the state Senate and the state House. Leaders of each chamber plan to meet to discuss the legislation in the coming days.

Most of the money in the package would go to agricultural relief for farmers and for rebuilding houses and roads and bridges. But the Senate version didn’t include small business grants, forgivable loans to local governments, or money to shore up creek and river banks.

State Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, said he hopes legislative leaders can meet to discuss why those priorities are important.

“The most important thing is that we get this money out there quickly,” Ager said. At the same time, he said a meeting between the sides presents “a good opportunity to get some of those good things that we had in this bill, in this chamber, back into the bill.”

Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told reporters Tuesday that he’s unclear on the House members’ specific objections.

“We were having conversations back and forth as the bill was moving. We did not have an indication that they were not going to (approve the bill) until sometime over the weekend,” Berger said. “We started hearing that there might be some problems, but it's still unclear to me exactly what those problems are.”

Helene caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to the state and its economy. The state expects to receive $15 billion from a Congressional package approved in December. If passed, House Bill 47 would bring the total amount of state spending on Helene to about $1.5 billion.

State relief bills approved last year targeted immediate relief. They funded efforts to clear debris, rebuild roads, and pay first responders. Most, but not all, of that money has since been spent.

With House Bill 47, legislators hope to fund more long-term recovery efforts, such as helping farmers get their fields back in working order, making sure local governments have enough money to keep schools open, and starting the efforts to rebuild homes.

North Carolina has yet to start rebuilding any of the homes damaged in the storm nearly six months ago, in part because that work is typically paid for by the federal government and the state has yet to receive those funds — and it might not receive anything for a year or more.

The $535 million plan is just half of the $1.1 billion that Stein, a Democrat, asked lawmakers to approve. Republicans in charge of the state legislature have said this is just the first of what they expect to be multiple Helene aid bills they’ll take up this year.