What Happened: Last week the NC General Assembly voted on their 3rd relief bill for WNC since Hurricane Helene’s devastation. SB382 was labeled as a disaster relief bill but didn’t provide much disaster relief at all and contained over 100 pages of undemocratic changes to power at the state level. While the first two Hurricane Helene relief bills passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, last week’s bill (SB 382) was a missed opportunity to provide much needed relief. The bill did not receive a vote in support from democrats and received 3 no votes from western NC republicans Clampitt, Gillespie, and Pless. While the state has a robust “rainy day fund”, total state allocations for Western North Carolina are less than a third of what the Governor requested for Hurricane Helene disaster recovery and would cover less than 2% of the estimated cost for relief and recovery. The Governor vetoed the bill on November 26th and the NC Senate comes back on December 2nd, and the NC House comes back on December 9th.
What We Want: We want WNC legislators to sustain the Governor’s veto of SB382. We need a clean disaster relief bill. We need a stop to evictions in WNC as people wait to receive needed assistance. We need an urgent and substantive relief bill that includes more rental assistance, funding for childcare stabilization, and grants to help stabilize WNC’s small businesses. Western North Carolina legislators understand Western North Carolinians needs best, so we are asking that the Western North Carolina delegation from both parties come together to draft a real and substantive relief bill for WNC in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Investments in rental assistance, childcare and small businesses will help stabilize WNC’s local economy.
Take Action:
- Continue to call on Chief Justice Newby and the Governor, with the approval of the Council of State, to put an eviction moratorium in place to give renters time to recover from income losses and access needed rental assistance. Sign and share this letter: bit.ly/je1114form
- Tell the western North Carolina delegation to the NC General Assembly to sustain the Governor’s veto of SB 382 and come together to draft a real relief bill that provides the aid we truly need and is free from political games having nothing to do with the disaster.
Here is a sample message:
Dear members of the WNC Delegation to the NC General Assembly,
I am writing to you to ask you to come together as those who represent Western North Carolina to lead in the creation of a clean and substantive disaster relief bill for Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Please sustain the veto of SB382 as it was a missed the opportunity to provide true relief and included measures that had nothing to do with disaster relief. WNC has an urgent need for more rental assistance, small business grants, and childcare stabilization that our local businesses and local workforce cannot continue to wait for. Inaction or delayed funding poses a threat to the long-term economic recovery of the region as businesses are making decisions now about whether or not they can ever open again, and workers are making decisions now about whether or not they can afford to stay in the region. The state’s rainy day fund is robust and if ever there was a ‘rainy day’ in Western North Carolina, it is now. We thank you for your individual requests for relief funds and trust the delegation representing those impacted by Hurricane Helene to lead the efforts moving forward.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Your County or City)
__________________
Here are the addresses for the WNC delegation, You can Copy and paste these addresses into your email:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
NC House – WNC representatives
| Greene | 919-733-5862 | [email protected] | R | 85 | Avery, McDowell, Mitchell, Yancy |
| Blackwell | 919-733-5805 | [email protected] | R | 86 | Burke |
| Hall | 919-733-5931 | [email protected] | R | 87 | Caldwell, Watauga |
| Pickett | 919-733-7727 | [email protected] | R | 93 | Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga |
| Johnson | 919-715-4466 | [email protected] | R | 113 | Polk, Rutherford |
| Ager | 919-715-2013 | [email protected] | D | 114 | Buncombe |
| Prather | 919-733-5746 | [email protected] | D | 115 | Buncombe |
| Rudow | 919-715-3012 | [email protected] | D | 116 | Buncombe |
| Balkcom | 919-733-5956 | [email protected] | R | 117 | Henderson |
| Pless | 919-733-5732 | [email protected] | R | 118 | Haywood, Madison |
| Clampitt | 828-736-6222 | [email protected] | R | 119 | Jackson, Swain, Transylvania |
| Gillespie | 919-733-5859 | [email protected] | R | 120 | Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon |
NC Senate – WNC Senators
| Warren Daniel | 715-7823 | R | 46 | [email protected] |
| Ralph Hise | 733-3460 | R | 47 | [email protected] |
| Timothy D. Moffitt | 733-5745 | R | 48 | [email protected] |
| Julie Mayfield | 715-3001 | D | 49 | [email protected] |
| Kevin Corbin | 733-5875 | R | 50 | [email protected] |
