House passes $280M disaster recovery bill

Senate version has less money, differences to be worked out in the coming weeks.

Posted 2:52 p.m. Oct 30, 2019 — Updated 8:43 p.m. Oct 31, 2019

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — State lawmakers are working on $280.5 million hurricane relief bill.

House Bill 1023 moved through the House late Wednesday on a unanimous vote. Sponsoring Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said the details weren't worked out in advance with the Senate, so changes may be made. He said Gov. Roy Cooper's administration requested the bulk of the money in the bill.

Update: The Senate version of this bill amounts to about $150 million, geared mostly toward drawing down federal grant money. The House version has much more money in it for storm preparation programs. The differences will likely be resolved when the legislature, slated to take a break after Thursday, comes back into session later this year.

In addition to the funding, the bill gives the state Wildlife Resources Commission more authority to remove abandoned vessels, addressing a problem that came up in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. McGrady said the focus will be on removing vessels that are in navigable waterways.

The bill also incorporates recommendations made by the legislature's Program Evaluation Division dealing with the state's administration of federal Community Development Block Grants for disaster recovery. The state has been criticized for slow spending in that area, and the bill includes new monitoring requirements.

Most of the money in the bill breaks down like this:

$38 million to match federal grants rolling in for Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Tropical Storm Michael last year and Hurricane Dorian last month, as well as other storms and future emergencies
$40 million for loans and grants to local governments for resiliency planning
$36 million for the state Department of Transportation, largely to boost the department's cash flow and pay for debris removal and highway repairs
$42.1 million to the state Division of Emergency Management for various "resiliency activities"
$5.2 million to Elizabeth City State University for building repairs
$3.5 million to repair Okracoke School and do various repairs in the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed
$15 million to Golden LEAF, a Rocky Mount-based economic development foundation, to fund various local grants to replace or repair infrastructure and equipment, or to fund new hazard mitigation projects
$5 million to boost an existing buyout program for hog farms in the 100-year flood plain. Lawmakers said there's a waiting list for this program, and this funding, added in an amendment on the House floor, will only address some of the need
$5 million to remove debris from streams to improve flow and cut down on flooding

The bill also adds a new position at the Division of Emergency Management to help manage federal grants and two new positions for the NC 211 help line, which people can call for referrals to community services.

There's also language forbidding any of the money in the bill from being used to build residential structures in the 100-year flood plain.

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