(Updated, 3:19 p.m.) Lawmakers on Wednesday put their final touches on a $200.9 million relief package for Hurricane Matthew and for recovery efforts associated with the western North Carolina wildfires, but they’re far from done.
The House passed an amended version of the disaster relief legislation just after 1 p.m. and both chambers adjourned but will reconvene at 2 p.m. for another special session that will deal with matters the leaders have refused to discuss.
For the second day in a row, Gov. Pat McCrory appeared before a legislative committee to thank lawmakers for returning to Raleigh to enact the package. This time, McCrory addressed the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The governor focused much of his attention on poorer residents affected by flooding from Hurricane Matthew.
“A lot of poor people don’t own their homes,” McCrory said, explaining why some of the relief money is geared toward finding rental housing for people displaced by the storm.
He mentioned a sense of urgency in passing the bill, which the Senate approved, 49-0. The House, which unanimously passed the bill Tuesday, gave its final blessing to minor Senate changes by a 108-0 vote.
While House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, have offered little information about what may be discussed in the new special session, both suggested it would be over by the end of the week. One issue that has been discussed is enacting some version of a regulatory reform measure that the bodies could not agree on when the regular session ended in July.
The deadline for filing bills to be considered in the new special session is 5 p.m. in the Senate and 7 p.m in the House.