New Helene relief bill would also strip powers from governor, AG

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- On Tuesday, state lawmakers put forth a new bill, SB 382, that provides hundreds of millions of dollars in Hurricane Helene relief funding -- but ties that money to Republican legislative priorities. A draft of the omnibus bill was first made public on Tuesday morning and could see a vote as soon as Tuesday evening.

SB 382 provides an additional $227 million in relief funds from the state's savings reserve, tying that money to sweeping legal changes aimed at stripping certain powers away from the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general. Those changes include transferring the power to appoint members of the State Board of Elections from the governor to the state auditor, and in doing so, giving the state auditor the opportunity to appoint a 3-2 Republican majority. Dave Boliek was just elected state auditor following 16 years of Democratic control in the position.

"We are drinking from the fire hose as they say. We have so many requests, and we need to continue to work on particularly the disaster component here," said Republican Rep. Donny Lambeth, who represents Forsyth County.

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Democrats criticized the bill for wrapping Hurricane Helene relief with unrelated topics.

"Let's get a clean bill to help western North Carolina recover that's just about supporting it, and not tying it to partisan political issues," said Caleb Rudow, a Democrat who represents Buncombe County.

Republicans will no longer hold a supermajority in the House next session, meaning they will need to find support from across the aisle to override any potential vetoes. That was not the case Tuesday night, in which three Republicans, who represent the westernmost districts in the state, joined Democrats in voting against the measure. Ten lawmakers had excused absences, and an eleventh did not vote.

"I don't think that we feel like we have to do everything right now because we're going from 72 Republicans to 71. As I've said before, and been very open about, I think we're going to have a working supermajority, and I'm more confident than ever that that's going to be the case," said Republican Rep. Destin Hall, who represents Caldwell and Watauga counties, and was elected as the next House Speaker.

Hall highlighted that lawmakers had already approved more than $900 million in Helene relief funding, with legislators on the floor noting there will be future rounds to provide additional support.

On Wednesday, Gov. Roy Cooper will travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials and request additional financial aid to support those affected by Helene.

The bill also changes North Carolina's elections, requiring voters to fix issues with their provisional ballots by noon on the Friday after Election Day -- a span of two and a half days -- down from the 10-day window currently accepted. SB 382 also strips power away from the attorney general, including limiting the AG's ability to participate in out-of-state lawsuits.

Rep. Zack Hawkins, a Democrat who represents Durham, expressed concern that elections staffers will struggle to comply with the new, shorter period to fix provisional ballots.

"This makes the elections process again less efficient, more burdensome on staff, and if something goes wrong, which it inevitably will, potentially thousands of ballots will be thrown out," said Hawkins.

Political observers also weighed in on the whirlwind proceedings.

"I think the main thing to know about this bill is basically they're trying to do everything that they want to do before the end of the year at once and in one bill," said Mitch Kokai, Senior Policy Analyst at the conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation.

By filing SB 382 before they lose their legislative supermajority, Republican lawmakers ensure they'll have the votes required to override Cooper's expected veto of the bill. The 132-page bill only had hours in the public eye before it went to the floor for debate.

"To me, this is democracy at its worst," said Bob Phillips, Executive Director of liberal-leaning Common Cause NC. "Bills should be thoughtfully debated. There should be public input. There should be full transparency in this proposal that we've seen today for the first time this morning, that will be voted on later today, has none of that."