Stein approves $524M in Helene relief aimed at rebuilding western North Carolina

More than half a billion dollars in new relief aid is heading to western North Carolina — a cash injection intended to boost rebuilding efforts in the region after the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

Gov. Josh Stein signed into law a bill — his first as governor — containing at least $524 million in relief aid late Wednesday, hours after lawmakers unanimously approved the funding.

"Urgency is driving us so much that when these guys pass this bill this afternoon, I asked them: Could they come over tonight?" Stein said during a signing ceremony featuring Republican and Democratic legislative leaders. "I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to sign this bill, because it's that important."

The money is mostly aimed at kickstarting efforts to rebuild homes, farms and private roads. It also has money for a tourism campaign — one of the main drivers of the western North Carolina economy — and funds to help local governments rebuild their downtown business districts.

Stein previously said he would sign the bill even though the deal negotiated by Republican legislative leaders is only half of what he had requested. The measure omitted Stein's request for two business grant programs designed to help companies that suffered significant sales and economic losses or physical damages.

Lawmakers called the bill “part one” of 2025 Helene recovery efforts, and part two is likely at least several months away. Stein said Wednesday that his administration would immediately start on another proposal for more funding to present to the legislature.

"We have to reduce the risk of wildfires, particularly as the summer starts to come," Stein said. "We need to invest in resiliency, whether that's how to deal with flooding or downed power lines, or any other way to make sure that if the next storm comes, we are better prepared to handle it."

After the Senate gave the aid final approval Wednesday, top-ranking Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said he expected the next round of aid would come in the state budget. Lawmakers were scheduled to discuss future spending Thursday during a joint appropriations committee meeting.

While the budget is technically due by July 1, lawmakers often blow past that deadline by months, if they pass a spending plan at all. The legislature failed to pass a new budget last year. Berger said that if the 2025 budget debates run into problems, he’d support passing more Helene aid as a separate bill.

“The No. 1 priority we have at the General Assembly this session is Hurricane Helene recovery, and it's going to stay that way until we fix the problem,” House Speaker Destin Hall said during Stein's signing ceremony on Wednesday. He noted the level of compromise between the House, Senate and Stein required to turn the bill so quickly into law. 

“Tomorrow, we'll begin working on the next round of relief for Helene because it's going to be a long recovery with incredible devastation in western North Carolina,” Hall said.

The most destructive storm in state history, Helene killed more than 100 North Carolinians and did an estimated $60 billion in damage to the western part of the state last fall — including tens of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or entirely destroyed in the landslides the storm brought.

Lawmakers approved roughly $1 billion in state aid last year, to supplement a projected $15 billion from the federal government. But some federal funding — including any money to start rebuilding homes — is still at least several months away from reaching North Carolina.

This new infusion of cash from state taxpayers will allow the work to begin on rebuilding homes in the meantime. The bill also funds efforts to rebuild farms, private roads and more relief efforts, as well as to finish rebuilding efforts in eastern North Carolina still lingering from hurricanes Florence and Matthew nearly a decade ago.

State lawmakers kicked off the 2025 legislative session in January saying Helene aid would be a top priority. Disagreements over how to spend the bill's proposed $524 million in aid, however, delayed its approval for weeks.

The state's struggles with Matthew and Florence recovery have been blamed on a large variety of causes, with former Gov. Roy Cooper as well as the federal government under presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump all taking blame. Stein's first action as governor was to create a new agency to handle Helene relief, taking the job away from the state agency that had handled those other recovery efforts.

Stein and Republican legislative leaders have put aside their partisan disagreements on other issues to work together on disaster relief, with GOP lawmakers saying they trust Stein to get the Florence and Matthew recovery done by the end of this year.

A large part of the reasoning behind this bill appropriating state dollars to rebuild homes damaged by Helene — which is typically the responsibility of the federal government — is to get the work started more quickly, and avoid the delays of those prior recovery efforts.

About 4,600 households in western counties were still receiving temporary housing assistance as of last week, and more than 200 public roads in the region remain closed or just partially open, according to state data.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.