General Assembly’s Helene relief bill ‘a first step’
Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) speaks during an Oct. 9 press conference at the North Carolina General Assembly. NCGA photo
After a series of emotional speeches by western legislators during an Oct. 9 press conference and assurances from Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) that the measure was only a “first step,” North Carolina’s General Assembly unanimously passed, and Gov. Roy Cooper signed a wide-ranging $273 million storm relief act on Oct. 10 that will fund recovery spending by state agencies and loosen regulations that can sometimes get in the way.
“There’s so many issues that need to be resolved to allow things to rebuild, but it’s a good start,” said Rep. Mark Pless, a Republican who represents two hard-hit counties, Haywood and Madison.
The Act’s legislative findings testify to the terrifying power of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 with 140 mile-per-hour winds, causing “record flooding and significant loss of human life and property” once it reached Western North Carolina. Devastating rainfall of up to 30 inches in some places “created several 1,000-year flood events in several counties” according to the Act, and damaged more than 400 roads and bridges, including a significant section of Interstate 40 near the Tennessee line.
Gov. Cooper’s 30-day state of emergency declared Sept. 25 will extend through March 1, 2025, per the Act, which will allow some entities to seek state and federal funding for disaster response provided during that time. The SOE also triggers price gouging laws and waives certain permitting and safety requirements for essential transportation services.
Perhaps most importantly, the Act establishes the Hurricane Helene Disaster Recovery Fund, a special fund administered by the Office of State Budget and Management, “to provide necessary and appropriate relief.” A separate fund for a Sept. 16 rain event on the coast, called potential tropical storm 8, was also established by the Act to aid Brunswick and New Hanover counties.
The Helene fund applies to the 25 western counties included in President Joe Biden’s Sept. 29 major disaster declaration, plus the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Qualla Boundary. The Act endowed the fund with $273 million from the state’s healthy “rainy day fund,” including a $250 million appropriation to the state’s Division of Emergency Management, which is a subdivision of the Department of Public Safety.
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The balance of the funding was appropriated to three other entities — $16 million to the Department of Public Instruction for lost compensation of school nutrition employees, $2 million to the OSBM to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners for technical assistance with local recovery funds (prioritized to counties with less than 250,000 residents) and $5 million to the State Board of Elections to facilitate voting in those 25 hard-hit counties.
Aside from funding, the Act also gives local school boards flexibility with calendars, allowing them to make up “any number of the instructional days or hours” missed due to Helene or to deem as completed up to 20 instructional days or hours. Schools can also utilize remote learning, up to 30 days, to complete instructional days required for the school year.
Other election allowances made by the Act include waiving precinct residency requirements for election judges as well as State Board pre-approval of implementation plan changes for polling place locations, days and hours.
On Oct. 11, Haywood County’s Board of Elections announced it would not change early voting days, times or sites; however, three precinct polling locations will change due to damaged infrastructure or buildings.
North Clyde’s polling place, formerly the Education Center on Broad Street, will move to Clyde Elementary School gymnasium. South Clyde’s polls, formerly at the Clyde Fire Department, will move to the Clyde Municipal Building. Big Creek, located in remote northern Haywood County but voting across the state line in Tennessee, will move south, to the Jonathan Valley Fire Department.
Last week, elections directors in Jackson, Macon and Swain counties told The Smoky Mountain News that they didn’t anticipate having to change their plans for the election, as storm damage there wasn’t as severe as in Haywood County and points east.
Absentee ballots may now be delivered by voters or close relatives to any county in the state, as opposed to the voter’s county of residence. Poll observers, designated by the chair of each political party, no longer need to be residents of that particular county.
Certain DMV fees, including for duplicate identification cards, titles, license plates and late registration renewal penalties, have been waived, which should help voters comply with the state’s voter ID law and help storm victims file claims if paperwork has been lost or destroyed.
The Act also made several modifications to the state’s water and wastewater policies, eliminating limits on emergency loans and permitting the Department of Environmental Quality to order wastewater treatment facilities to treat wastewater from outside county or municipal boundaries if they’re capable.
Permits for open-air burning of storm debris are no longer required, but such action cannot be taken when air-quality warnings have been issued.
Golden LEAF’s rapid recovery loan programs were also given more flexibility to offer loans with longer terms.
Retired local government employees, including cops and teachers, can now return to work without jeopardizing their retirement status.
A number of provisions in the Act are intended to ensure the continuity of persons under post-release supervision, residency notwithstanding. Other provisions ease requirements for day care and adult care facilities.
Although Pless agrees that the bill is a good start, he knows it’s just that — a good start.
“I think we’re going to have to do a lot more than what the bill allows us to do,” Pless said. Oct. 13.
Among them, initiate a speedier process for building permit approvals. Most local development offices are fully staffed, he said, but not fully staffed for an event such as Helene.
“Sometimes the permitting process and the things that we rely on at the local level gets so overwhelmed because of the requests, we’re going to have to figure out a way to streamline that,” said Pless, chairman of the House’s disaster recovery and homeland security committee. “I learned all that dealing with [hurricanes] Matthew and Florence, and that still goes on occasionally when they’re building houses in a specific county.”
Finding a way around the State Transportation Improvement Program, which ranks and schedules transportation construction projects across the state, could be another important step. There is currently an urgent need for some projects within the declared disaster that, according to Pless, don’t rank high enough for consideration at present.
Although the focus right now is on moving forward, Pless said during his Oct. 9 press conference appearance that there will come a time to address concerns that the recovery has been less-than-perfect. After issuing pointed words against lies and conspiracy theories that have plagued the recovery effort, Pless reiterated Oct. 13 that that time isn’t right now, but it will indeed come.
“We need to make sure that [hurricane response] did work the way that it’s designed to work,” he said.
