Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes.

Hurricane Helene killed more than 100 people in Western North Carolina and caused nearly $60 billion in damage. The state needed a disaster relief bill. So the legislature passed one... with a few extras.

SB 382 allocates $252 million for hurricane recovery. That part is real. But the 132-page bill also strips the governor's power to fill vacant appellate court seats, eliminates two Superior Court judges who previously ruled against the legislature, creates two new court seats that lawmakers (not voters) fill, abolishes the state's Energy Policy Council, restructures the NC Utilities Commission to guarantee a Republican majority, moves election board appointments from the governor to the state auditor, and shortens ballot-counting deadlines. Governor Cooper called it "massive power grabs." Both Cooper and incoming Governor Stein filed lawsuits.

It passed during a lame-duck session in December 2024... after the election but before new members took office. Three Western NC Republicans who initially voted against the bill flipped their votes for the override. A state political analyst called it "probably the most consequential bill I can remember" and "a perfectly legal power grab."

The title says "Disaster Relief." The disaster relief money was set aside in a reserve fund that couldn't be spent until the legislature appropriated it later. Meanwhile, the power restructuring took effect immediately. The NC Budget & Tax Center noted the bill was "brazenly passed to constrain the powers of independently elected agencies" rather than help hurricane survivors.