The final order of business on the legislature’s calendar before lawmakers embark on a month-long summer vacation was passing the latest Tropical Storm Helene recovery package.
Just a week ago, it appeared as if lawmakers might not reach a deal before their extended break. After the House passed its Helene recovery bill in May, the Senate sat on it for a month.
But shortly after Senate Democrats threatened to use a lesser-known procedure to force a vote on the Helene recovery bill, it began to not only move, but sprint.
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Originally, Senate leaders hoped to use the Helene bill as a bargaining chip in ongoing budget negotiations; however, it became clear last week that the House and Senate would not come to a budget agreement before July 1.
Monday, the state Senate unanimously passed its heavily amended Helene bill. The House did not agree with the changes, so the bill went to conference committee yesterday, where selected members of both chambers came to an agreement.
Thursday, every single North Carolina senator and representative voted in support of the $500 million compromise bill.
“We’re certainly not addressing all needs, but there will be more for later,” said Rep. Karl Gillespie, R-Macon. “We believe that this bill is addressing the needs that are the most urgent right now.”
Unified vote hides dissatisfaction with recovery package
North Carolina Emergency Management is again the biggest winner in the final recovery package, bringing in $208 million for federal disaster aid matching funds and various programs designed to restore and reinforce private roads and bridges, airfields and flood-prone areas.
The state also offers help to local governments in the form of technical assistance with federal aid applications and support planning, as well as cash-flow loans issued by the state treasurer.
Both chambers also agreed on infrastructure funding for state parks and forests, public schools and fire departments.
While the House and Senate ultimately agreed on the lion’s share of provisions, there were several sticking points.
The House won back money that was initially left out of the Senate’s bill for a streamflow rehabilitation program, agricultural crop loss program, one-stop disaster recovery constituent portal and grants to various colleges and universities in the storm zone.
But they lost $60 million in business grants that would have gone to Western North Carolina businesses that lost revenue during and after the storm.
Senate Republican leaders think grants to private businesses are unconstitutional. House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said his caucus has a different legal interpretation.
The House will continue to pursue business grants, but in the meantime, representatives earmarked funds for tourism marketing to help businesses out.
“Really one of the biggest drivers of their economy is tourism, and folks who are not from that part of the world, a lot of them still think that it’s still a disaster area that you can’t go visit there,” Hall said. “But many of those businesses are back open.”
The Senate also took some policy losses of its own. The final package omits funding for two major railroads and removes a provision that would have cut state road maintenance for municipalities with more than 150,000 people.
“Our transportation chairs felt strongly that those issues need to be resolved through transportation, and so it was not really necessary to have those in a Helene bill,” Hall said.
However, the Senate retained $16 million for the town of Canton to acquire property for a new wastewater treatment facility, as well as $3 million for landslide hazard mapping.
Democrats also raised several objections to the recovery package before voting for it.
Rep. Lindsay Prather, D-Buncombe, said the bill was politicized. All eight legislators chosen to be part of the conference committee were Republicans, and three did not represent impacted Western North Carolina counties.
She also felt it deprioritized Buncombe County, home to Asheville, which was one of the hardest hit areas.
Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe, said Republican leaders seem to be saying they should just be happy for what they’ve gotten, even though it’s not nearly enough to make up for an estimated $60 billion in damages.
Prather put it into perspective, looking at the $500 million allocated in this bill and other previous allocations.
“We’re putting $1.3 billion over the next two years into the private school voucher program, and they want us to be grateful that we’re putting $2 billion total into Western North Carolina recovery,” she said.
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