RALEIGH, N.C. — On Tuesday, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a $500 million Helene relief bill. It now heads to the North Carolina Senate. 

Republicans and Democrats spent a half hour discussing how the money should be used to support western North Carolina.

Both sides agree while this bill will benefit those communities, more money is still needed to overcome the devastation that many of the North Carolina counties saw. In the end, all representatives unanimously voted to pass the bill.

The House was informed by Representative Dudley Greene that the total disaster relief funding now equals $1 billion.

“We all hope that that money will start flowing soon,” Greene said. “But I fully expect that this won’t be the last that will be needed in this or future sessions as a result of this unprecedented storm.”“We all hope that that money will start flowing soon,” Greene said. “But I fully expect that this won’t be the last that will be needed in this or future sessions as a result of this unprecedented storm.”

Representative Lindsey Prather agreed, saying more money is needed for these communities.

“This is the storm that we’re facing today, and this is the one that we need to address,” Prather said. “I am going to vote yes for this bill because we do need this help. And I understand that there is more to come and I’m grateful for that. But we are five months out from this storm. We’ve got to move quicker, and we’ve got to spend more. We have a rainy day fund for a reason. Let’s use it.”

While rebuilding western North Carolina will undeniably require more funding in the future, this money is a great way to get mountain communities on the right track.

The $500 million Helene relief bill would allocate $140 million to rebuild homes, $100 million to rebuild bridges and roads, $55 million to help small businesses and $150 million to help farmers.

The Helene relief bill now heads to the Senate where it will need to navigate multiple Senate committees, mirroring the House procedure, before a full chamber vote.

The House agriculture and environment committee will review over $400 million in funding at this week’s General Assembly. This money, however, would go to help farmers recover from all the weather we saw in 2024, not just Helene.