House Bill 130 establishes a 2024 Agricultural Disaster Crop Loss Program within the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to provide financial assistance to farmers who suffered verified crop and commodity losses from USDA-declared agricultural disasters in 2024. The bill is aimed at helping producers recover from drought, excessive rainfall, tropical storms, and other disaster-related losses affecting crops, nursery stock, specialty crops, aquaculture, and other agricultural commodities. It sets out eligibility rules, documentation requirements, payment calculation methods, audit authority, repayment obligations for improper awards, reporting requirements, and a 30-month program expiration.
To fund the program, the bill directs the transfer of $475 million from state reserve accounts into the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund and then appropriates that amount to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill also allows the department to use up to 1% of the program funds for administration and requires any unused funds to revert to the disaster relief fund when the program expires. The legislation is intended to supplement remaining funds from prior disaster relief measures and target aid to counties designated by USDA as agricultural disaster areas during 2024.
HB130 would change state fiscal and administrative law by moving money out of the Stabilization and Inflation Reserve, the Information Technology Reserve, and the Economic Development Project Reserve into the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund, then appropriating those funds to a new disaster crop loss program. It creates a new statutory program administered by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, with detailed eligibility, verification, audit, repayment, and reporting provisions. Farmers, aquaculture producers, nursery operators, and other agricultural businesses in USDA-designated disaster counties would be the primary beneficiaries, while the State would assume the cost of administering and distributing the aid.
The bill appears broadly supportive of the agricultural sector and framed as a response to widespread disaster-related losses across the state. The legislative findings emphasize the size and importance of agriculture to North Carolina and the fact that every county experienced some form of USDA disaster designation in 2024, suggesting strong policy justification for relief. No committee transcript or recorded vote information is provided, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or debate in the available materials.
The main potential points of contention are fiscal and administrative rather than the existence of relief itself. The bill redirects substantial sums from multiple state reserve accounts, which could raise concerns about competing priorities, reserve adequacy, and the use of funds originally set aside for other purposes such as technology and economic development. Another possible issue is program administration: the bill gives the department broad discretion over documentation, payment formulas, audits, and deadlines, which may be viewed as necessary for fraud prevention but could also be seen as burdensome for applicants. Because no transcripts are available, no specific member or stakeholder objections are documented.