House Disaster Relief Leaders Pan Cooper’s Hurricane Recovery Response | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal, and written by Dan Way, Associate Editor.

Hurricane Florence floods Interstate 95 near Lumberton. Photo from the N.C. Department of Transportation.

    UPDATED, 4:55 p.m. to include statement from House Speaker Tim Moore.

    Co-chairmen of the House Select Committee on Disaster Relief panned sluggish hurricane relief efforts by the Cooper administration. They want renewed oversight authority.

    "The people of eastern and southeastern North Carolina deserve better. They cannot afford any more delays and missteps," House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne, and Deputy House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, said in a letter sent Monday, June 3, to House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland.

    Bell and Jones represent districts battered by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018. Moore responded late Monday afternoon with the following statement:

    "These agonizing delays to deliver housing aid to hurricane victims are simply inexcusable as North Carolinians continue to recover from two major storms that ravaged their communities. I appreciate the initiative of Majority Leader John Bell and Deputy Majority Leader Brenden Jones and will reauthorize the House Select Committee on Disaster Relief in the coming days to help ensure hurricane aid reaches those in desperate need of assistance as soon as possible."

    Attempts to get responses from Gov. Roy Cooper and House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake, weren't successful.

    The lawmakers' letter followed the May 20 release of a report critical of the administration's mishandling of the Hurricane Matthew recovery.

HbAD0

    The General Assembly's nonpartisan Program Evaluation Division concluded the administration's response to Hurricane Matthew involved "missteps," "delays," and "unnecessary spending" in response.

    "We believe this is unacceptable and it is our duty as legislators to help bring accountability and oversight while also identifying opportunities to speed up the process and make sure it does not happen again," the lawmakers' letter said.

    Bell and Jones cited the program evaluators' report showing the Cooper administration spent only 1%, or $3.4 million, of a $236.5 million federal grant as of December 2018. That was nearly two years after Hurricane Matthew made landfall in October 2016, causing significant damage in 50 counties. Updated figures show 3.1%, or $7.36 million, was spent as of March 2019.

    The report said the state spent about $3.7 million unnecessarily due to noncompliant contracts. Problems with the design of recovery programs also delayed distribution of funds.

    Laura Hogshead, chief operating officer of the newly created state Office of Recovery and Resiliency, has defended the pace of her agency's response. She largely blamed the complexities of satisfying federal regulations, and lack of state staff experienced in the federal grant process. The state departments of public safety and commerce similarly defended their roles in distributing recovery payments.

    In addition to the federal recovery funds, the General Assembly has appropriated more than $1 billion from its rainy day reserve for disaster recovery from Matthew and Florence.

    The proposed Senate two-year budget appropriates $1.1 billion to replenish that savings fund, bringing it up to a record $2.3 billion. Estimates say $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion is needed to weather the next downturn in the economy.
Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




President Pro Tempore Phil Berger - Legislative Update: NC Senate Passes Fiscal Year2019 /2020 Budget Carolina Journal, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Governor Cooper Statement on Congressional Disaster Relief Funding


HbAD1

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

far left sugar daddy has also funded anti-Israel groups and politicians in US
Be careful what you wish for, you may get it
America needs to wake up and get its priorities right
Former President Donald Trump suggested this week that if he becomes president again, he might allow Prince Harry to be deported.
It's a New Year, which means it's time to make resolutions — even for prominent evangelical leaders. The Babylon Bee asked the following well-known figures in the faith what they hope to accomplish in 2024:
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic, reportedly the first time a president or vice president has visited an abortion facility.
An eight-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville has been temporarily closed due to a string of “human and bear interactions,” the National Parks Service announced.
University of Wisconsin tried to punish conservatives for the fact that liberals regularly commit crimes to silence opposition
most voters think EU officials not doing a good job on illegal immigration

HbAD2

 
Back to Top