Senate Republican leaders this week delayed a Democratic effort to dislodge a Helene relief bill from committee but simultaneously indicated that stalled budget talks mean they plan to pass the legislation in some form.
House Bill 1012 passed the House last month with a unanimous vote of every representative present, 106 to 0. The bill would shift $500 million from NC Innovation to the state's Helene recovery fund, helping pay for a wide range of efforts from private roads and bridges to small business grants.
Senate Democrats have grown frustrated that the bill was stalled in committee in the chamber, while Republicans said they preferred to tie additional relief funds to the state budget. But with the House and Senate at an impasse on the budget, Senate Rules Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, shifted the bill from the chamber's Rules Committee to its Appropriations Committee on Monday.
"We have indicated all along that we intend to take action on things that are needed for Helene recovery when it has become apparent that we are not going to be able to finish with a traditional by the end of the budget, the bill was moved into base budget so that we could put the Helene provisions in that bill," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told reporters Tuesday.
Democrats attempt at discharge petition
That shift came the same day that Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch announced plans to file a discharge petition to try to push House Bill 1012 onto the Senate floor.
At 3:40 p.m. Monday, Batch wrote an email to every member of the Senate informing them of her intention to seek the petition.
"We believe the time has come to move this bill forward. I hope each of you will consider joining us in signing the discharge petition so we can take meaningful, bipartisan action on behalf of the families and communities who have waited too long," Batch wrote to her colleagues.
Senate rules say that for a discharge petition to be successful, two-thirds of senators, or 34 members, must sign it. If they do, the legislation is dislodged from committee and moved to the Senate floor.
To launch a discharge petition, notice must be given on the Senate floor. And the bill in question must have been sitting in the same committee for at least 10 days while the legislature was in session.
By shifting the bill among committees, Rabon effectively made it ineligible for a discharge permit for at least two weeks. Berger said the change was unrelated to the discharge petition effort.
After Tuesday's session, Senate Democrats made clear that they believe Western North Carolina cannot wait for more help recovering from the historic disaster. Senator Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, expressed optimism that the bill could move.
"I'm (hopeful) that they've actually moved it maybe because they wanted to frustrate our petition and because they're actually going to something. That is the hope that I have to keep, and time will tell," Mayfield said.
Berger expressed confidence Tuesday that the Senate will pass some kind of Helene relief legislation before lawmakers head home for a planned break at the end of the month.
But Berger also indicated there would likely be changes from the House bill, which would require the House to concur before it could head to Governor Josh Stein. Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, criticized that approach, noting that passage of a revamped bill in the Senate does not guarantee smooth sailing in the House.
"We could have done House Bill 1012 a month ago had we wanted to and then do more on top of it, but setting up another dispute with the House is not really helpful to the people of Western North Carolina," Grafstein said.
Helene relief funding
Appropriations in the House's version of House Bill 1012 include $60 million to fund long-awaited $75,000 grants to support small businesses recovering from the storm, $25 million to rebuild school facilities Helene destroyed and $70 million to match federal relief funds.
The state previously allocated about $1.4 billion to Helene relief in four different bills.
The Senate included an additional $700 million in Helene relief funds in its budget proposal, with another $633 million allocated to rebuilding roads damaged across Western North Carolina.
Speaker of the House Destin Hall said Western North Carolina Republicans are heading up negotiations on the next relief package, but noted a large portion of previously appropriated Helene funds remain unspent.
"You can send these dollars today, it doesn't mean they get spent tomorrow. It's a process they have to go through. Right now, I think the more urgent thing is making sure the money that we have sent gets sent to where it needs to go quickly," Hall, R-Caldwell, told reporters.
