Where will Helene relief money go? NC House lawmakers fill out details of $500M plan

North Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday resumed debating ways the state can continue supporting Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in western North Carolina, with a Helene-focused committee providing further details on how exactly the legislature might aim the next round of state funding.

A House committee on Helene relief approved a plan to spend another $500 million on relief. State lawmakers have already approved almost $1 billion in aid. The latest proposal now moves to another House committee for further review on Wednesday. It would need approval of the Senate to advance to Gov. Josh Stein's desk. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans.

The $500 million proposal amounts to less than half of what Stein, a Democrat, is seeking. Stein introduced a $1.07 billion plan that featured a combined $300 million on business grants and home rebuilding efforts. The House proposal would spend $150 million on home rebuilding, and nothing on business grants.

Republican legislative leaders, mindful of the fact their proposals trail behind what Stein and former Gov. Roy Cooper have said will be needed, have repeatedly said they plan to pass multiple Helene recovery bills in 2025 and that this is just a first step.

"We're well on our way," House Speaker Destin Hall said Tuesday, praising Stein as well as Republican President Donald Trump for their work on relief efforts. At the state and federal levels alike, the legislative branch is in charge of funding relief efforts and the executive branch is in charge of carrying out the work. Trump took to social media on Tuesday to criticize the federal government's response to the disaster.

"We're going to do all we can to bring relief," Hall said. "We're going to fix the issue in western North Carolina."

House lawmakers also passed a separate bill through a different committee on Tuesday, intended to raise unemployment benefits for Helene victims.

The September storm brought 30 inches of rain, caused more than 1,400 landslides, and damaged about 74,000 homes in western North Carolina — affecting more than 25% of the state.

Helene did $60 billion worth of damage to the state, shattering previous records as the most damaging storm in North Carolina history. The state expects to receive $15 billion from a Congressional package approved in December, which is several billion dollars less than state leaders had asked for.An initial version of the House’s latest legislation, House Bill 47, outlined broad pots of money to be divvied up later — the task that this week's committee hearings are focused on. The proposed funds include:

• $150 million to rebuild homes.
• $150 million to help local farmers repair and restore their property.
• $100 million for privately owned roads and bridges.
• $60 million for repair of state facilities, including state parks and prisons.
• $20 million for debris removal.
• $10 million for local volunteer groups.
• $10 million for volunteer fire departments in the affected area.

Proposals take shape

During Tuesday's meeting Republican lawmakers approved proposals from their party but shot down proposals from Democrats.

One of the biggest approvals was $75 million to help local farmers clear their fields and get enough soil back in place in time for planting season. Many have complained of fields washed away, replaced by boulders and other debris.

"We're accustomed to crop loss," said Rep. Karl Gillespie, R-Macon. "We're accustomed to crops blowing down, et cetera. What we're not accustomed to is the dirt, that we'll plant the crops in, now being located in Tennessee."

Rep. Eric Ager, an Asheville Democrat, unsuccessfully proposed $50 million in business grants — just one-third of what Stein has said is needed, which could've been seen as a compromise with Republicans who are less enthusiastic about the idea.

In Asheville, as well as in smaller towns throughout western North Carolina, the local economies are heavily reliant on tourism spending. Helene hit in late September, just before the fall tourism season was in full swing — timing that compounded the financial hardships for many restaurants, hotels and other local businesses on top of any physical damage they may have sustained.

"We're losing businesses in western North Carolina every day, and we've got to find a solution," Ager said. "This will really go a long way in keeping some folks solvent through to the summer, when business picks back up again."

GOP leaders had been clear to members of Tuesday's committee that the bill could not exceed the $500 million cap they previously settled on, so Ager suggested paying for his $50 million in grants by using most of the money that would otherwise be earmarked for repairing state parks in the region. GOP committee leaders, however, wanted to keep the money as it had been earmarked.

While Ager said he wants to keep businesses afloat while they wait for tourism season to pick up in a few months, a fellow western North Carolina lawmaker, Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, questioned if the strategy wouldn't backfire.

"One of the concerns that I have is that our state parks and trail systems in the western part of the state are a big draw for tourism, and that's part of the economy out there," Blackwell said. "Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul here?"

One amendment the committee did approve was $5 million for a marketing campaign to promote that most of western North Carolina is back open to visitors, proposed by Rep. Ray Pickett, R-Watauga.

Pickett said it would be used "to help people know where to go, what they can do in the mountains, and areas that may be off limits."

Unemployment bill

House lawmakers also passed a separate bill through a different committee on Tuesday, intended to raise unemployment benefits for Helene victims. House Bill 48 would raise unemployment payments from a maximum of $350 to $450 per week, starting next month, and has bipartisan support in the House.

One of Cooper's final actions as governor came in the aftermath of Helene when he used an emergency order to raise unemployment benefits to $600 per week. Republican legislators reacted by passing a law in December to strip future governors of the power to do that, and to end those higher unemployment benefits on March 1, when Cooper's order expires. Stein is expected to likely sign another Helene-related emergency order then but won't be able to use it to raise unemployment benefits, under that new law.

So while HB48 wouldn't keep unemployment benefits quite as high as they currently are once Cooper's order expires on March 1, it would prevent them from falling all the way back to $350.

However, while the bill enjoys bipartisan support in the state House, it's unclear if it will be able to pass muster in the state Senate.