Gov. Stein’s new hurricane recovery effort gets off to a promising start

The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

Gov. Josh Stein (right) inspects a trailer on a recent visit to western North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of the governor's office.)

In many important areas, North Carolina’s new governor, Josh Stein, is wisely following in the footprints of his predecessor, Roy Cooper.

In critical areas like public education, environmental protection, and reproductive freedom, Cooper was a champion of just and common sense policies.

One area, however, in which the new administration can make needed improvements is in the delivery of aid to people impacted by natural disasters.

NCORR – the state’s office of Recovery and Resiliency — has long been plagued by big bureaucratic problems that created absurd delays and quality control foul-ups in repairing and rebuilding the homes of Hurricane Florence and Matthew survivors.

And by all indications, Stein is determined not to let this happen again. He’s made Hurricane Helene recovery his top priority and named a new, high-powered team to oversee it.

The bottom line: Not all of the responsibility here lies with the governor’s office; the legislature needs to dramatically up its game too. But for now, Gov. Stein’s new hurricane recovery effort has gotten off to a very promising start.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.