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Governor Cooper issued the following statement on his signing of House Bill 149, "The Disaster Recovery Act of 2024."
"Recovery for Western North Carolina will require unprecedented help from state and federal sources and this legislation is a strong first step. Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage but also showed the resiliency of North Carolina’s people and its communities and we must continue the bipartisan work to help them build back strong."
...Appropriation for Helene Fund: The State Controller shall transfer the sum of two hundred seventy-three million dollars ($273,000,000) for the 2024-2025 fiscal year from the Savings Reserve established in G.S. 143C-4-2 to the Helene Fund.
The North Carolina General Assembly approved a second disaster assistance package, providing another $604 million aimed at helping western North Carolina recover from storm damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The money comes in addition to an earlier $273 million aid package.
Significantly for cities and towns, the latest legislation contains $100 million for water and wastewater infrastructure repair loans, $100 million for cash flow loans to local governments, $75 million for federal disaster assistance matching funds, $50 million to help state and local government needs not covered by insurance and $50 million for bridge loans for small businesses.
Other provisions that may assist local governments in the affected, eligible areas will:
- Allow the Department of Environmental Quality to waive statutory fees on loans.
- Exempt some loans to local governments from requirements for Local Government Commission approval.
- Allow inactive code enforcement officials to obtain limited certification to provide inspections in the disaster area, and allow local governments to use third parties to perform plan reviews, inspections or other work involving building inspection, provided the non-employees meet licensing requirements.
- Extend various administrative deadlines related to disability, death, and retirement benefits for state and local government employees.
- Allow the state treasurer to waive penalties for late retirement fund payments, provided they are not more than 90 days late.
- Establish legislative intent to appropriate funding to the Golden Leaf Foundation to provide grants to assist local governments in providing disaster relief assistance.
The legislation passed both chambers unanimously during a one-day session on Thursday, coming after Gov. Roy Cooper had proposed a more robust $3.9 billion assistance plan. Legislative leaders, though, indicated that they will continue to assess needs and respond with additional assistance as those needs become clearer. At the same time, several said that state funding alone cannot address the challenges. We will continue to keep you informed regarding legislative developments around Helene recovery efforts, including again examining the topic in next week’s Legislative Bulletin.
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