Push to move third pandemic relief package through General Assembly slows

The state's third package to allocate federal pandemic relief aid remains on a fast track through the legislature, although it slowed a bit Tuesday.

Posted 11:33 p.m. Mar 2, 2021 — Updated 11:33 p.m. Mar 2, 2021

Laura Leslie

, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state's third package to allocate federal pandemic relief aid remains on a fast track through the legislature, although it slowed a bit Tuesday.

House Bill 196 was filed Monday evening and legislative leaders targeted getting it to Gov. Roy Cooper by the end of the week.

The bill allocates $1.7 billion in federal money, including $600 million for coronavirus testing, contact tracing and prevention efforts, $290 million for colleges and universities and $140 million for an extended summer school program being debated in the Senate.

The bill was put together behind closed doors in recent days by House and Senate leaders, who said they had little say in how to spend most of the money, as Congress earmarked it for specific purposes in a national package that passed in December.

But some of the money has more flexibility, and the House Appropriations committee hearing Tuesday was like a feeding frenzy as lawmakers tried to move money around and make changes to the bill.

Given that they were debating the 26-page bill less than 24 hours after it was filed and some barely had time to read it, they sometimes couldn’t understand what they were voting on.

The bill was expected to be on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, but debate on the package in the House Rules committee was still going on at about 6 p.m. So House Speaker Tim Moore said the bill would go before the full House on Wednesday afternoon instead.

Lawmakers passed a $1.6 billion relief bill last May and a second $1.6 billion package three weeks ago.

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