RALEIGH — A North Carolina House bill making it a felony to discriminate based on political affiliation or speech when it comes to disaster aid or assistance was sent Gov. Josh Stein’s desk and he signed it on June 26.
“North Carolina does not discriminate based on political affiliation or political speech, including when providing disaster recovery assistance,” Stein said in a press release. “This bill ensures that will remain the case.”
“No United States citizen, United States national, or qualified alien as defined in U.S.C. § 1641 shall be denied or discriminated against by the State or its agencies and employees for disaster recovery assistance on the basis of political affiliation or political speech,” the bill states.
The bill would make it a Class I felony for “knowingly” violating the law.
House Bill 251 was introduced in late February by Rep. Kelly Hastings (R-Gaston).
The bill first passed the House on April 1 by a vote of 106-10. The Senate made some changes and passed a substitute version of the bill on June 10 by a unanimous vote of 43-0.
The House voted to concur with the Senate substitute on June 17 by a vote of 113-1. The lone “no” vote came from Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford).
The latest version of the bill also says no one applying for state emergency assistance grants can be required to provide personal demographic information “unless such information is necessary to award the grant or is otherwise required by law.”
Additionally, the bill raises the penalty for looting by one felony level to a Class H. Looting of property from a temporary housing location would be a Class F felony.
“One of the key provisions that the Senate helped put in had to do with a situation in Yancey County, in Pensacola,” said Hastings of the time he and other lawmakers spent with the Yancey County sheriff following Hurricane Helene.
“And as we were viewing the devastation, he pointed out one of his constituents whose wife was killed in the storm,” said Hastings. “And he also made a note that this gentleman’s home was looted, and so, this (bill) would also raise the class of felony if a person’s property is looted following a natural disaster.”
