(The Center Square) – Lawmakers in a subcommittee on hurricane response convene Monday, tipping off the return to Raleigh of the North Carolina General Assembly.
The Senate and House of Representatives calendars for Tuesday, when sessions convene, were without an agenda Friday morning at time of this publication. The meeting Monday, however, offers intrigue to the public cries of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in his final days of office versus the methodical approach of Republican majorities that will remain in the Legislature’s new two-year session come January.
The Hurricane Response and Recovery Subcommittee, led by cochairmen Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, and Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, is a part of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations. Its genesis traces to Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018), for which recovery remains ongoing today.
In requesting testimony from Laura Hogshead of the state Office of Recovery and Resiliency and Pryor Gibson from the governor’s office, the 12-member panel will hear about Hogshead’s office requesting $175 million to continue operations and the timeline for becoming aware of the need.
Pryor will be asked about other sources of funding requested. Hogshead will be asked about monthly financials in fiscal year 2023-24 and 2024-25; progress and completion of homes to date; and monitoring of the Community Development Block Grant fund obligations, emcumbrances and expenditures.
Her letter of invite also says to be prepared for discussion on the “relationship between state government entities including the governor’s office, the Office of State Budget and Management, other divisions within the Department of Public Safety, and NCORR to oversee financial and programmatic challenges within the Homeowner Recovery Program.”
While major hurricane recovery is years in the making, evidenced not only from Matthew and Florence but also Floyd 25 years ago, Republican lawmakers signaled last month they would not issue something close to an all-encompassing blank check. In response to Helene, Cooper put forth a 99-page proposal with a price tag of $3.9 billion.
It was in that proposal from Cooper when lawmakers first learned of Hogshead’s department having a $175 million budget hole.
“For years, Governor Cooper has shrugged off what has become the most botched long-term hurricane response in the country,” Jackson said. “It’s a stain on our state and it keeps me up at night thinking about what may come as we start to recover from Hurricane Helene. There are no magic words that can get victims of Hurricane Florence back in a home, and no amount of money that will root out the incompetence at the NCORR. There needs to be changes in leadership.”
Lawmakers on Oct. 9 approved $273 million and on Oct. 25 another package of $604 million specific to recovery from Hurricane Helene. Each time, respective chamber leaders said the assistance is an installment on a larger sum.
Additionally, another $40 million in disaster relief has been approved by state lawmakers for Tropical Storm Debby, what was known as Potential Tropical Cyclone 8, and a tornado that touched down in Nash County.
Helene was a Category 4 hurricane when she hit Florida on Sept. 26, dissipated over the North Carolina mountains and Tennessee, causing an estimated $53 billion in damage, according to Cooper’s proposal.
“Western North Carolina has major funding needs for recovery and relief,” Cooper said this week. “Instead of helping our neighbors in the West, the General Assembly is dead set on spending millions of taxpayer dollars on private school vouchers for the wealthy.”
His reference is to anticipated business once the Senate and House convene. Expected on the agenda are more financial aid to western North Carolina, and separate veto overrides involving school choice and sheriffs cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, in the wake of election results said on Nov. 6, “Our platform of low taxes, job creation, quality education, and educational freedom spoke to North Carolinians then. Now, the voters are returning Republican majorities to the Legislature for the eighth consecutive election.
“Republicans in the General Assembly will continue to honor that platform and work tirelessly for all North Carolinians. As we prepare for the upcoming biennium, at the top of our minds is supporting western North Carolina as the recovery process continues.”
And House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, election winner to Congress 10 days ago, said he met on Nov. 8 with federal, state and local governments in Morganton “concerning disaster relief and getting resources to the affected communities.” On Oct. 21, he was in Swannanoa and said the White House was yet to call while former President Donald Trump “and his team have been in touch with us from Day 1.”
Helene is responsible for 102 deaths in North Carolina and 231 across seven states. North Carolina Emergency Management said seven remain missing; it has turned over those official counts to counties.
