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Pandemic Response Act Approved by North Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday

Legislation to appropriate $1.7 billion for Covid-19 relief in North Carolina was approved by the state House of Representatives on Thursday in a Pandemic Response Act that includes extensive policy reforms to address impacts of the crisis.
 
House Bill 1043 Pandemic Response Act funds recovery priorities and provides assistance for small businesses, streamlines access to unemployment benefits, modifies education requirements, ensures continuity of government operations, and supports healthcare facilities on the front lines of the public health crisis.
 
The legislation was developed over weeks of remote committee meetings by the bipartisan state House Select Committee on Covid-19 and would help safely reopen the economy, Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) said Thursday.
 
“Since this crisis began, North Carolinians have come together to support not only their own families but friends and neighbors, folks in their communities who need the most support in this unprecedented pandemic,” Speaker Moore said.
 
“I appreciate the bipartisan, bicameral collaboration among my colleagues in the General Assembly to respond with relief for North Carolinians whose lives are at risk in this public health crisis, and whose livelihoods hang in the balance of an economic shutdown.”
 
“The Pandemic Response Act represents a critical step for North Carolina’s recovery, to provide relief now for families and businesses, and to prepare for an unexpected future with reforms that support the people our state in the months ahead.”
 
Members of both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly have begun meetings to reach a compromise agreement on Covid-19 relief packages approved by the state House and Senate.