Senate Overrides Gov. Cooper’s Veto of Senate Bill 382

Puts total amount allocated to Helene Fund at $1.1 billion

Moves State Board of Elections to State Auditor’s Office

Establishes State Highway Patrol as independent department

Raleigh, N.C. — Today, Republicans in the North Carolina Senate overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 382.

The bill provides $252 million to the Hurricane Helene Fund for hurricane relief, and includes several regulatory changes such as:

• Clarifies that public school employees in impacted areas can continue to be paid through November regardless of if their school has reopened or not.
• Gives the UNC-Asheville Chancellor the ability to use any remaining funds from the spring semester tuition grants for other Hurricane Helene needs.
• Fulfills the request by the Department of Health and Human Services to temporarily extend or modify various regulatory and licensing deadlines.
• Extends various government approvals, permits, and sets guidelines for approving temporary public water systems and pump and haul wastewater operations.
• Waives some submission and approval plans for land-disturbing activities in certain circumstances.
• Restricts local governments in the disaster area from enforcing tree ordinances on private property.
• Allows homeowners in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene to connect temporary housing to an existing wastewater system for up to twelve months.
• Modifies the emergency infrastructure bridge loan program at the Department of Environmental Quality to include nonprofit water corporations.
• Gives the Office of State Fire Marshal the authority to adopt rules related to temporary housing in the disaster area where existing regulations may limit availability of housing options.

It also provides $33 million to extend childcare stabilization grants, and $50 million to keep the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) operating. The money to NCORR will come with additional oversight measures given Gov. Cooper’s failure to effectively manage relief for Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

“We heard a lot of lip service from Gov. Cooper about supporting Western North Carolina, but he showed us where he really stands when he vetoed the long-term relief funds our constituents are counting on. His reckless plan to drain our savings reserve would’ve left North Carolina defenseless against another storm. This bill, which brings the Helene Fund total to over $1.1 billion, will be integral as we continue to work with our local and federal partners in repairing the damage done by Hurricane Helene,” Sens. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon), Warren Daniel (R-Burke), Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell), and Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) said.

Additionally, the bill includes multiple provisions to reform and restructure state government. Senate Bill 382 moves the State Board of Elections to the State Auditor’s Office, prevents the Attorney General from undermining state law, allows the State Treasurer to appoint a member to the Utilities Commission, and makes the State Highway Patrol an independent, cabinet-level department whose commander is confirmed by the General Assembly.

“Democrats have resisted every single attempt we’ve made to create a truly bipartisan Board of Elections with an equal number of Democratic and Republican members. Their blatant partisanship is exactly why we need these reforms,” Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said. “The new measures in Senate Bill 382 actually balance our three branches of state government so that North Carolina remains on a positive trajectory, free from Democratic party and liberal activist obstruction.”

Senate Bill 382 now heads to the North Carolina House for consideration.