By Cindy Bae for ABC11 WTVD

North Carolina lawmakers discussed their plans on Tuesday for exactly how half a billion dollars will support victims of Hurricane Helene and rebuild western North Carolina.

House Bill 47, also known as the Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part I, increases the total allocated funding plan for Helene recovery to more than $1 billion that state lawmakers have already approved.

“We want to go ahead and move forward with the initial bill to get it done,” Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne said. “People are asking, they need the help, and so we can move a lot faster than the federal government.”

Some of the key funding items of the bill include $150 million to rebuild homes, $150 million to support local farmers and $100 million to repair private roads and bridges.

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Lawmakers on the House Select Committee on Helene Recovery discussed amendments to the bill that were mostly technical in nature to define more clearly how the money would be administered.

“Any time you’re dealing with anything of this magnitude and this amount of money, you’re going to have hiccups or mistakes along the way,” Bell said.

According to Bell, it’s unclear how many of the things in the bill will be covered by the federal government, but he called Tuesday’s hearing a “good start to a long process,” and added the state legislation is working to move fast to bring relief to western North Carolina, as the bill now heads to another committee for further review.

“As we move forward, it could be a different bill with the Senate,” Bell said. “This is going to cost a lot of money that we’re trying to navigate through right now over the next three weeks.”

The preceding article originally appeared on February 11, 2025 at WTVD’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition. Photo above: Judy and Denny Venable inside of Pack Rats, their military surplus store in Newland on Oct. 17, 2024. The North Toe River flooded the store during Tropical Storm Helene, with the couple inside as flood waters rose on Sept. 27. Despite the damage, they hope to reopen. Photo by Colby Rabon for the Carolina Public Press