State lawmakers are considering whether to spend another $500 million on Hurricane Helene relief for western North Carolina.

Republican lawmakers — who plan to debate the proposal Wednesday — revealed their plans in legislative documents Tuesday, a day after Democratic Gov. Josh Stein called for more than $1 billion in "immediate" Helene aid from the state government.

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Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on the exact amount of money the state government should spend — as well as on which recovery needs to prioritize. But there is broad bipartisan consensus that more needs to be done. The storm did an estimated $60 billion in damage to western North Carolina, several times more than any other hurricane in state history. The federal government is expected to lead recovery efforts, with the state filling in gaps.

The $500 million relief bill that is scheduled to be taken up Wednesday by the House of Representatives' new Select Committee on Helene Recovery Agenda was filed Tuesday by the committee's two GOP chairmen, Reps. John Bell and Dudley Greene.

The initial version of House Bill 47 gave no indication how the $500 million might be split up. The debate Wednesday will likely focus on those details.

The bill's title also indicates more funding could be discussed in the future. Bell and Greene named it "Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 — Part I."

In Stein's $1.1 billion Helene proposal, announced Monday, he recommended spending a combined $300 million on business grants and home rebuilding efforts, plus a number of other smaller priorities funded as well. Some other highlights in Stein's proposal included:

  • $100 million for local farmers to clear their fields of debris, make repairs and protect against future flooding.
    • $75 million to repair or rebuild private roads and bridges, in addition to state-owned infrastructure.
      • $30 million to rebuild downtown areas and business districts.
        • $25 million for local residents for mortgage and rent assistance.
          • $20 million for local food banks.

            Other Helene funds still unspent

            In a series of aid bills last year, state lawmakers have so far approved roughly $1 billion in relief aid for the storm. But hundreds of millions of that total remain unspent, several months after the storm hit North Carolina in later September.

            Some of the unspent funds could start flowing into the region, however.

            New Republican State Treasurer Brad Briner announced Tuesday that his office is nearly ready to start approving state-funded loans for city and county governments in western North Carolina that are cash-strapped following the storm. That loan program has $100 million to hand out, and Briner said the loan applications could start being approved by late February.

            "Our staff has performed Herculean work in short order to build the architecture of the cashflow loan program from the ground up," Briner wrote in a news release. "We are eager to begin approving loans later this month to potentially more than 140 local governments that were shattered by Helene. They have shown irrepressible grit as they continue to pick up the pieces. These loans will give them a cash infusion sorely needed to accelerate the road to recovery."