03-03-2025
Lawmakers to consider funding NCORR an additional $217M
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Hundreds of millions of dollars could soon be in the hands of a group the General Assembly says has failed to help victims of Hurricanes in North Carolina nearly a decade ago.
Republican Senator Phil Berger says this is not to help NCORR, the North Carolina Officer of Recovery and Resiliency, but rather to help North Carolinians who are still out of their homes years after hurricanes ravaged eastern North Carolina.
This week lawmakers will take up the C.O.O.P.E.R. Accountability Act, a bill that would fund the $217 million request from NCORR. The bill is named after former Governor Roy Cooper who backed NCORR during his time as Governor.
'I don't think there's an interest in helping NCORR, I think there's an interest in helping the North Carolina citizens that have been promised something that NCORR and former Governor Cooper never delivered to them,' Senator Phil Berger said.
The bill also sets up reporting and accountability practices for the General Assembly to track NCORR's funding and progress.
'I also think that it will be necessary to make sure there are certain benchmarks in the context of appropriating that amount of money,' Senator Berger said.
Lawmakers previously showed hesitancy to fund the group anymore.
'After a while, when you spend more time explaining what you did than accounting for what you did, it's not a mistake, it's a lie,' Representative Mark Pless previously said of the group.
But now there's a willingness to give one final effort.
'I think you'll see some support for going forward with that so those North Carolinians can get what has been promised to them for almost a decade now,' Senator Berger said.
Senator Berger says Governor Josh Stein gave them a commitment that this money will finish the job.
A House committee will talk more about the bill on Tuesday.
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