Sham Helene relief bill riles western leaders: Contentious veto override vote likely looms
High drama is unfolding at the North Carolina General Assembly over a Hurricane Helene flood relief bill. Cory Vaillancourt photo
To be, rather than to seem; North Carolina’s aspirational state motto evokes notions of determination and the desire for substance in a world where a thin veneer of competence is oftentimes seen as an acceptable substitute.
But after Republicans rammed what was to be a Hurricane Helene relief bill — in reality, a rushed, naked partisan ambush of the incoming Democratic administration that contained no actual hurricane relief — through the General Assembly last week, that motto now seems about as broken as the roads, bridges, businesses, homes and lives of Western North Carolina residents still calling out for help.
“This is a transparent power grab pushed through by a supermajority that’s not happy with the recent election results, and you’re calling it a disaster relief bill,” said Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe), from the floor of the House on Nov. 19. “This is shameful, and Western North Carolina isn’t going to stand for it.”
Republicans didn’t count on Prather being in the legislature much longer, but she won a tough reelection battle in a district that was gerrymandered specifically to do away with her. Prather’s victory was instrumental in breaking the Republican veto-proof supermajority for next year’s legislative session, but it was only the beginning of bad news for North Carolina Republicans in the wake of the Nov. 5 General Election.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the gubernatorial race by more than 14 points, so the bill stripped Stein of the power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections and to appoint chairs of the county boards of elections, giving those powers instead to newly-elected Republican Auditor Dave Boliek. The bill also limits the power of the governor to appoint appellate court judges and appoint a majority of members to the State Utilities Commission, halts the automatic appeal of utility monopoly Duke Energy’s rate hikes and prevents the governor from increasing the state’s paltry weekly unemployment benefits, which Gov. Roy Cooper did in the aftermath of Helene.
Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson defeated Republican Rep. Dan Bishop in the race for attorney general, so the bill stripped Jackson of the ability to litigate on behalf of North Carolina residents by joining multi-state amicus briefs if their positions are “contrary to or inconsistent with the position of the General Assembly.” The bill compels the attorney general to avoid recusal from defending some lawsuits, like Stein did with the state’s abortion bill. Were the General Assembly to legalize human slavery, Jackson’s office would be forced to defend it.
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Democrat Mo Green defeated far-right Republican activist Michele Morrow — who was present at the Jan. 6 insurrection and called for the execution of former President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden and Cooper — for the Superintendent of Public Instruction position, so the bill stripped Green of the ability to appeal decisions made by the North Carolina Charter Schools Review Board. In a somewhat-related action, Republicans voted to override Cooper’s veto of a measure that would expand taxpayer funding of private schools, which are allowed to discriminate against students for any reason, to a level that will quickly grow to $825 million a year even as average teacher pay is nearly the lowest in the nation (see VOUCHERS, p. 12).
Further voter suppression tactics, in the form of drastic reductions of the time in which voters have to cure provisional ballots, were included in the bill as well — a final retaliatory strike against North Carolina voters who refused to give Republicans any more power on Nov. 5.
It’s not that western leaders have been silent. Shortly after the storm faded, local and regional officials made plenty of public pleas for help from the General Assembly over a protracted period — pleas for substantive aid to a region decimated by a once-in-a-thousand-years extreme weather event that thus far have gone unanswered.
On Oct. 9, the General Assembly passed a $273 million storm relief act that established the Hurricane Helene Disaster Recovery Fund and loosened some regulatory mechanisms. Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) called it a “first step.”
On Oct. 18, Canton’s Democratic Mayor Zeb Smathers reiterated calls for direct grant assistance to affected businesses during a visit by Cooper, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
On Oct. 24, the General Assembly passed a more expansive storm relief act, dipping into the state’s $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund for an additional $604 million. The bill fell far short of Cooper’s $3.9 billion proposal, which included $475 million for a Helene business recovery grant program. Although the second relief act appropriated millions in loans for businesses, thousands of businesses across disaster-stricken counties are still paying back COVID-era loans from the Small Business Administration and can’t afford to take on more debt. In Canton alone, 84 business entities took out 30-year loans at 3.75%, totaling nearly $4 million in borrowing.
On Nov. 16, at a Carolina Hurricanes game recognizing Canton’s town staff and elected officials for their work during Helene, Cooper made a foreboding prophecy.
“I just hope the legislature does something next week. I’m concerned that they’re not going to do anything meaningful to help right now,” he told The Smoky Mountain News. “I believe small business grants and direct help to local governments is really important for them to do right now. And it remains to be seen whether they’re going to step up and do it.”
On Nov. 18, Cooper again called on the legislature to forego private school voucher funding in favor of hurricane relief.
On Nov. 19, perched atop a 131-page bill that had never seen the inside of a committee room and had been released less than an hour before deliberations began, was a simple paragraph stipulating an additional $227 million from the Rainy Day Fund be transferred to the Hurricane Helene Recovery Fund. That money is to “remain unspent until appropriated by an act of the General Assembly.”
On Nov. 20, Buncombe County Democratic Rep. Eric Ager held a press conference with Prather, Rep. Caleb Rudow (D-Buncombe) and Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe), along with Asheville-area business leaders, just before the Senate was to consider the bill.
“People down here in Raleigh may not totally understand the tough spot that we’re in, in Western North Carolina. I think two days ago, Asheville finally got potable water back, but there’s still other systems in Western North Carolina that aren’t providing water. There’s sewer challenges,” Ager said. “The reality of it is we lost the month of October, which is our biggest revenue month of the year in Western North Carolina with the tourism economy.”
Mayfield brought up rental assistance, another aspect of state relief that’s fallen far short of the mark. People who lost jobs — whether due to transportation issues, loss of customers or simply because their businesses were reduced to rubble by area waterways — could also lose their homes, but the General Assembly provided only $1 million in rental assistance to spread across dozens of counties. She’s called for an eviction moratorium, similar to what happened during COVID.
“I mean, we want landlords to be paid. We’re not trying to keep landlords from getting their money,” Mayfield said. “So if an eviction moratorium isn’t the answer, then let’s put $20 million on the table for rental assistance and allow landlords to get their rent. But we didn’t do either one.”
The bill passed the Republican-dominated House on Nov. 19 by a margin of 63 to 46, a strict party line vote — except for three Republicans from some of the neediest communities in Western North Carolina.
Rep. Karl Gillespie, a Macon County native, represents Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties, which were only lightly impacted by the storm. When reached, Gillespie said he had no comment on his vote.
Rep. Mike Clampitt, a Swain County native, represents Swain and Jackson counties, which were spared much of the destruction seen in surrounding counties, but Clampitt also represents Transylvania County, which saw heavy damage. When reached, Clampitt also said he had no comment on his vote.
Rep. Mark Pless, a Haywood County native, represents Haywood and Madison counties, which incurred substantial damage. Pless said “the bill appears to do nothing for Western NC” on Facebook the day after his vote.
Mayor Smathers thanked the three Republican representatives — people he’d worked with when Canton was hit by deadly flooding from Tropical Storm Fred in 2021.
“What you saw was fundamental, principled leadership and doing right by the people of Western North Carolina. That was not a hurricane relief bill; it was a bill that was trying to be marketed as one. Even when talking about the money, it just shifts money. It doesn’t allocate where it goes,” said Smathers. “It was a bill that was done behind closed doors, very quickly and not involving even the Republicans, even our own legislators. This is a bill that should not have been passed and should not exist and should be vetoed. And if it was Democrats doing it, I would say the same thing.”
The bill passed the Senate on Nov. 20 by a margin of 30 to 19, this time on a strict Republican party line vote with no defections. Mitchell County Republican Sen. Ralph Hise, who represents part of Haywood County and some of the most devastated communities in the state, voted yes, as did Macon County Republican Sen. Kevin Corbin, who represents all of the counties Clampitt, Gillespie and Pless represent.
“I respect their vote,” said Corbin, who added that he’d talked to the three and that they’d told him their intentions. “There were some things in the bill I didn’t particularly care for, but I don’t tell those guys how to vote and they don’t tell me how to vote.”
One thing in particular Corbin did like about the bill, as chair of the Senate’s health care committee, was the $34 million requested to replace pandemic-era federal grants to child care providers that expired on July 1. On July 9, the General Assembly subsequently funded the program, but only to a fraction of what experts said was needed.
“As health chair, that’s my responsibility. It’s a big thing for me, and for my counties,” Corbin said. “I couldn’t vote ‘no’ on a bill where I’d asked for something. There’s only a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ button. There’s no ‘maybe’ button or ‘sorta’ button.”
Corbin further supported his vote by pointing out that the billion or so dollars already appropriated for recovery is twice the amount of any other storm in North Carolina history, and that the state’s Rainy Day Fund, now thought to be around $3.7 billion, would only cover a small percentage of the total estimated need of $53 billion.
Based on comments made by Cooper, including to Spectrum television on Nov. 21, it appears likely he will veto the bill. Although Republicans will retain their veto-proof supermajority until the next legislative session begins, they’d still need votes from Clampitt, Gillespie and Pless to override Cooper’s expected veto.
The Senate is likely to attempt a veto override vote on Dec. 2, with the House following suit on Dec. 11.
In a Nov. 25 conversation, Pless said it was still “to be determined” if he would vote to override an expected Cooper veto.
“I won’t decide until I push the button, after taking everything into consideration,” Pless said.
With the General Assembly biding its time on meaningful relief, Cooper traveled to Washington, D.C., with a delegation of western leaders in the hours after the bill was ratified, appealing to higher authority for help — including President Joe Biden.
The delegation included Smathers, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, Buncombe County Commission Chair Amanda Edwards, Buncombe Commissioner Parker Sloan, Chimney Rock Mayor Peter O’Leary, Spruce Pine Mayor Phil Hise, Lake Lure Mayor Pro Tem Dave DiOrio and Madison County Manager Rod Honeycutt, among others.
Cooper’s delegation also met with congressional budget staff in the House and the Senate, including ranking Democratic Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray (D-Washington). Smathers lauded the bipartisan support, singling out Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) for praise. Cooper said he was encouraged by the meetings with North Carolina Republican senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd.
Both Biden and Tillis have asked Congress for $100 billion in disaster funding nationally. Cooper said he’d asked Tillis and Budd for $25.5 billion for North Carolina alone.
“They both tell us that they are 100% behind funding for this. It is critical that we have both sides of the aisle working very hard to get storm recovery. I want our state legislature to make sure that it does its part and that we show the federal government that we are willing to appropriate money at the state level as well, but we’ll see what Congress does,” Cooper told The Smoky Mountain News on Nov. 22. “I’m encouraged by the meetings that we had the day before yesterday, and yesterday. We spent two days in Washington on this issue, and I look forward to that success.”
Corbin, Hise and fellow senators Warren Daniel (R-Buncombe) and Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) attended the meetings by Zoom; Corbin acknowledged a figure “north of $20 billion” and gave more insight into why, exactly, the state hadn’t yet drained its Rainy Day Fund.
“Say Congress allocates $30 billion for North Carolina with a 10% match,” he said. “That’s $3 billion right there.”
Cooper and Corbin independently confirmed a timeline for congressional action that matches up with something Smathers said on Nov. 22.
“I think I’m cautiously optimistic that by Dec. 20 we’ll have a nice Christmas present for the deserving people of Western North Carolina,” he said.
