SB 382 offers disaster relief in name only, fails to provide direct support to Western NC

Legislative leaders should hear loud and clear that North Carolinians expect our state’s policies to build stronger connections to economic opportunity, help people when they face hardship, and ensure that climate disasters don’t  derail progress for us all.  

As the legislative session comes to an end this week, however, lawmakers’ focus was on an override of the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 382. While the bill has “Disaster Relief” in its name, it is not a disaster recovery package or a thoughtful plan for the state as we enter the third month after Helene hit Western NC, with winter approaching and residents’ basic needs still unmet. Instead, Senate Bill 382 was brazenly passed immediately following November’s election to constrain the powers of independently elected agencies and further concentrate the power of legislative leaders.   

The evidence is clear that moving funding quickly and flexibly is critical following a disaster —states that have done so have seen stronger economic growth in affected counties five years after a disaster’s initial impact.  

It is also clear that for a successful recovery, the state’s focus must be on people. State leaders should be making sure that funding gets directly to those who are struggling right now to keep a roof over their head, who are considering whether or not to re-open their business, and who are wondering whether they should stay in the community that they call home. Making sure that people have the income they need and certainty that there is a plan for rebuilding will help keep people in the region to fuel a strong, inclusive recovery. 

To date, the state’s financial commitment to rebuilding after Helene has been meager, equal to just 2 percent of the $53.6 billion that is needed.  

In a report to the House Committee on Helene Recovery, the Director of the State Office of Budget & Management shared that one-third of that money is serving as a state match required to access federal money and one-third is in the form of loans. That means that the majority of the dollars the state has committed so far will take longer to spend and are focused on infrastructure rather than the people who urgently need it.  

 

Senate Bill 382 will become law over the Governor’s veto, so let’s review what it does and doesn’t do for disaster survivors.  

The bill sets aside $225 million in the Helene reserve fund for disaster response that cannot be used until lawmakers appropriate it to specific purposes.  Two other additions to the reserve fund are appropriated in the bill: $2 million for soil and water conservation districts and $25 million for stream rehabilitation. The main takeaway from these choices is that state funding is still lagging far behind what’s needed, and that money that could directly support people in Western NC remains locked up in the Helene reserve fund instead of being put out to communities. 

Right now, state policymakers should be reforming the state’s Unemployment Insurance system — in recognition that it provides  far too little money and reaches too few people for too short a time — to ensure that a temporary job loss doesn’t lead to greater hardship and disconnection from the labor market.  

Instead, in SB 382, NC leaders will block future Governors from using an Executive Order to provide emergency help to those in Western NC, who have lost work through no fault of their own because of Helene.   

Right now, state policymakers — Governor and legislators alike — should be moving our public money to a robust rental assistance program to make sure people stay housed and in their communities across Western NC, especially as we enter the coldest months of the year.  

Instead, SB 382 makes no additional commitment to help the renters and landlords faced with the inability to afford rent.  It’s notable that the $225 million in funds set aside could have provided over 134,000 households with rent money for the month of December — nearly half of the number that have applied for temporary federal shelter assistance. Instead, previous rounds of state funding, just $1 million for rental assistance, have provided enough for fewer than 300 Western NC households to receive a mere two months of rental assistance.  

SB 382 does not address these priorities, nor does it lay the foundation for important work that must be underway to bolster the capacity of state agencies and local governments to deliver new services, set up programs, and get ready for possible future federal funding for rebuilding that Congress must still authorize.  

State funding is essential to fill in gaps left by federal programs and charitable efforts and is the best tool policymakers have to ensure all disaster survivors have access to support.  But these funds need to move quickly and flexibly to minimize the harm to people that will cost us all more down the road.   

Legislators in the majority are taking a wait and see approach, focusing instead on consolidating their own power. They should be using the power they already have, as leaders elected by the people, to commit to the long-term recovery of the region.   

That means listening to the needs in Western NC and acting on them through public policy and public funding decisions that meet them.  

That means pausing income tax breaks for profitable corporations and the wealthy that go into effect on Jan. 1, so that we all have what we need to thrive. 

The pace and quality of the recovery and rebuilding efforts will be measured by responsiveness of the NC General Assembly leadership to the people and communities of Western NC.