CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – When Kim Wooten sees the devastating videos of Helene’s destruction, she thinks about her five years serving on the North Carolina Building Code Council.

Trickling streams in the mountains turned to raging rivers after the hurricane dumped record setting rain. The world has watched as flood waters wiped away roads, homes and entire neighborhoods.

Wooten thinks about the various building code updates that have been blocked or excluded. Codes that could have made some of the structures safer.

“It’s the General Assembly and the North Carolina Home Builders Association,” Wooten said. “Both of those entities have effectively blocked the ability of homebuyers to purchase a home that is built to modern standards, that has been inspected to meet modern standards, that is efficient and affordable.”

A WBTV Investigation is shining a light on how North Carolina lawmakers and lobbyists weakened the state’s building code for years before Hurricane Helene hit. The history reveals a pattern of bills sponsored by legislators who own construction companies, supported by a political action committee that has spent more than $4 million over four years on their preferred candidates.

Wooten, an electrical eningeer, has been vocal about the influence the NC Home Builders Association has had over the building code council and general assembly. She says the devestation in mountain communities provides yet another example.

“There have been a number of bills proposed over the years to address steep slope construction,” Wooten said. “All three of those were defeated.” She added that efforts from local communities to implement stronger slope construction regulation were also opposed and weakened.

State Representative Laura Budd tells WBTV it’s not just what’s about building codes that were blocked. Laws the legislature and NCHBA passed also have a major impact.

“What it does is it erodes the safety and security that’s supposed to be written into the building code,” Rep. Budd, a Democrat representing the Matthews area, said.

NC Home Builders Association bills impact FEMA funding

Budd opposed two bills recently pushed by the NCHBA, even though she’s an attorney practicing in construction litigation. She said most of her clients are general contractors, trade professionals and developers.

“Not a single, solitary one of them is in favor of this,” Budd said.

Republican legislators, backed by the NCHBA, filed House Bill 488 in 2023. The bill essentially blocks North Carolina from adopting newly updated residential codes until 2031. The International Code Council (ICC) introduces a new version of building codes every three years.

Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, warning it could cause the state to lose FEMA funding, but the legislature overrode his veto. The governor’s office estimates North Carolina communities will miss out on $70 million in FEMA funds this year because of the NCHBA backed law. The funds are Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants and are intended to help local governments reduce their hazard risk.

“They’re our federal tax dollars, and those federal tax dollars are going to other states to make their states more resilient to floods like waters,” Wooten said.

A spokesperson for the NC Home Builders Association wrote in an email “there has been this false narrative that the building code can only be changed every six years.” He claimed that the statutory process allows anyone to petition the Building Code Council to revise or amend the state building codes any time the Council meets (usually quarterly).

Regular council meetings are for individual code changes to specific sections rather than the adoption of new international standards. North Carolina recently updated its building code, meaning the code will be ten years out of date by the time the council can adopt new international standards again.

It’s not just the governor from an opposing political party raising concerns about how NCHBA efforts to change the code are costing homeowners.

When standards go down, insurance goes up

In 2021, the North Carolina State Fire Marshal’s Office opposed another NCHBA policy priority to change the period for revising the code from every three years to every six years. In a letter to the state building code council, the deputy state fire marshal wrote that changing to a six-year code cycle would negatively impact insurance ratings statewide and could decrease participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The letter also stated that “North Carolina will be “unable to compete” in the (FEMA) BRIC grant market…due to the weight assigned to the building code scoring criteria.”

The scoring criteria referenced is the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule, used to assess the building codes in individual communities and how they’re enforced. A community’s grade can have a significant impact on homeowner and commercial insurance rates.

North Carolina’s BCEGS score decreased from 2015 to 2019, moving from Class 4 to Class 5 in both commercial and residential categories. North Carolina has a lower commercial ranking than South Carolina, and is tied in residential. Virginia scores higher in both categories.

The most recent ranking is from before North Carolina changed to a six-year code cycle. The impact that might have on the state’s score is still unknown.

Big donations and big impact

When the NCHBA prioritizes legislation, it often passes. Even when the Governor vetoes it, and Republicans lack the supermajority to override it.

“If you follow the money, you tend to find the answers to those questions,” Rep. Budd said.

WBTV analyzed the legislators who received the most campaign contributions from the North Carolina Home Builders Association PAC. Politicians also received contributions from the NCHBA’s Home Builders Education Fund, Inc. which spends money on radio ads, mailers and billboards supporting specific candidates.

Many of the legislators receiving the most financial support from NCHBA ended up being influential, even critical, on Senate Bill 116. The bill was a top legislative priority for home builder legislators and lobbyists in 2024.

“House Bill 488 nor Senate Bill 116 had any requirements that would impact health or safety for buildings in North Carolina,” an NCHBA spokesperson wrote in the email to WBTV. Instead, he said H488 paused the energy code until a future date.

One of the notable impacts of S116, according to Budd, was that it removed the requirement for an architect on the residential code council. State Representative Dean Arp, who has received a significant amount of campaign contributions from NCHBA, also spoke out against some of the code provisions in the legislation but voted for it anyway, saying it could be fixed in a subsequent bill.

The bill was sponsored by Republican State Senators Steve Jarvis, Joyce Krawiec, Tim Moffitt and Democrat Paul Lowe. Since 2020, NCHBA and its Education Fund have spent a combined $195,000 on the four candidates, with Jarvis ($76,000) and Krawiec ($68,000) leading the pack.

But the legislation led to disagreements, even among the NCHBA backed legislators supporting it. A committee of house and senate members was formed to work out their differences. The appointees named read like a list of the Home Builders Association’s favorite legislators to contribute to.

(R) Rep. Jeff Zenger – $115,700

(R) Rep. Mark Brody – $75,000

(R) Sen. Steve Jarvis – $76,000

(R) Sen. Joyce Krawiec – $68,000

(R) Rep. Dean Arp – $31,500

(R) Sen. Bill Rabon – $32,200

(R) Rep. Matthew Winslow – $10,400

Zenger, Brody, Jarvis and Winslow all have their own construction companies according to an NCHBA web post from 2021 titled “Record Number of Builders Sworn in as Legislators.” Brody sponsored House Bill 488 along with Rep Tricia Cotham.

After the bill was passed, then vetoed by the governor, the NCGA leaders organized a vote to override the veto. Democrats had a major role to play in passing the legislation in the House. With eight republicans absent, the supermajority needed for the override was no obstacle as six legislators, five who have received donations from NCHBA or its Education Fund, crossed the aisle to vote for the bill.

(D) Rep. Carla Cunningham – $51,600

(D) Rep. Michael Wray – $22,500

(D) Rep. Cecil Brockman – $18,100

(D) Rep. Shelly Willingham – $13,000

(D) Rep. Nasif Majeed – $2,200

The same group of lawmakers voted to override the veto of H488 in 2023.

The latest electioneering disclosure form from the Home Builders Education Fund was filed in March. It shows money spent on radio advertising for three candidates. $12,500 was designated for Rep. Cunningham and $9,500 for Rep. Brockman.

‘Do voters want a safe home?’

Wooten says North Carolinians are paying the price for the donations and decisions from the North Carolina General Assembly. Whether it’s insurance premiums, FEMA grants or flood mitigation.

“I’m hopeful that they (NCGA) will look at this recent disaster and it will cause a complete paradigm shift,” Wooten said.

She painted an alternative future though, put forward by the NCHBA and state lawmakers. Structures rebuilt in floodplains, on steep slopes, relaxed permit requirements and privatized inspections, all in the name of helping devastated communities recover and rebuild

“I am quite afraid that there will be a rush to rebuild that will end up costing people their lives and their biggest single investment in their lifetimes – their home,” Wooten said.

Wooten said no one is paying attention to these code changes because they’re boring. Budd called the slow and steady filing of bills aimed at changing the code “death by a thousand cuts.”

But with more than $4.3 million spent by the NCBHA on candidates since 2020, Budd says the small legislative victories are part of a bigger battle for profit by some of the larger home building companies.

“And it’s at the expense of North Carolinians.”

If there’s ever a time when homeowners would pay attention to the building code, and all the money spent trying to change it, it’s when they’re forced to rebuild their home.

“I think it’s up to the voters. Do voters want a safe home?” Wooten said.

“Do they want a home that won’t blow away in a hurricane, that will stay anchored during a flood? That’s up for voters to say.”

Copyright 2024 WBTV. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is heading to North Carolina on Saturday as the state recovers from Hurricane Helene, arriving there one day after a visit by Republican Donald Trump, who is spreading false claims about the federal response to the disaster.

Earlier in the week, Harris was in Georgia, where she helped distribute meals, toured the damage and consoled families hard-hit by the storm. President Joe Biden, too, visited the disaster zone. During stops over two days in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia, Biden surveyed the damage and met with farmers whose crops have been destroyed.

The two have been vocal and visible about the government’s willingness to help, and the administration’s efforts so far include covering costs for all of the rescue and recovery efforts across the Southeast for several months as states struggle under the weight of the mass damage.

In a letter late Friday to congressional leaders, Biden wrote that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund “has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year.” He also called on lawmakers to act quickly to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program.

More than 200 people have died. It’s the worst storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005, and scientists have warned such storms will only worsen in the face of climate change.

But in this overheated election year, even natural disasters have become deeply politicized as the candidates crisscross the disaster area and in some cases visit the same venues to win over voters in battleground states.

Trump has falsely claimed the Biden administration isn’t doing enough to help impacted people in Republican areas and has harshly criticized the response. He has, in Helene’s aftermath, espoused falsehoods about climate change, calling it “one of the great scams of all time.”

During a stop in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Thursday, Trump renewed his complaints about the federal response and cited “lousy treatment to North Carolina in particular.” In fact, the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, said this week the state has already seen more than 50,000 people be registered for FEMA assistance, and about $6 billion has been paid out.

Biden, meanwhile, has suggested the Republican House speaker is withholding critical disaster funding.

Harris’ visits, meanwhile, present an additional political test in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. She’s trying to step into a role for which Biden is well known — showing the empathy that Americans expect in times of tragedy — in the closing stretch of her White House campaign.

Until this week, she had not visited the scene of a humanitarian crisis as vice president — that duty was reserved for Biden, who has frequently been called on to survey damage and console victims after tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and more.

Harris said this week that she wanted to “personally take a look at the devastation, which is extraordinary.” She expressed admiration for how “people are coming together. People are helping perfect strangers.”

She said that shows ”the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us,” an echo of a line she frequently uses on the campaign trail.

“We are here for the long haul,” she said.

___

Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Boone, North Carolina, and Meg Kinnard in Fayetteville, North Carolina, contributed.

Officials in the state have taken steps to help by ordering medications for people who are stung by the insects.

The devastation from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and the Southeast has left more than 200 dead, swallowed entire towns and left thousands without power or drinking water. Now, another problem has arisen from the storm: yellow jackets.

Severe flooding in the state stirred up colonies of the insects as their habitats were likely destroyed by floodwaters, a phenomenon that, according to an emailed statement from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is fairly normal.

“It is normal for bees, yellow jackets, and other stinging insects to be temporarily disrupted after a Hurricane,” the statement said.

“Basically, if their nest is destroyed, then they have nowhere to go back to,” Matt Bertone, director of the NC State Entomology Department, explained to the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. “If they’ve escaped, if they haven’t drowned, they’re gonna be out and about, not knowing what to do.”

However, officials are taking the threat of these insects seriously, as they have taken measures to make sure medications like Benadryl and epinephrine will be readily available in the affected areas.

“We are actively working to ensure Benadryl and epinephrine are readily available in western NC for those who may be allergic or have been stung,” the statement said.

Why these medicines?

Medications like Benadryl help deal with symptoms associated with wasp or bee stings. Although the majority of people are not allergic to stings, medications like Benadryl help reduce symptoms like pain, itching or swelling that could develop after a sting.

On the other hand, epinephrine injections, more commonly known as EpiPens are used for people who do have severe allergic reactions to stings from bees, wasps or in this case yellow jackets.

“We have made a large purchase of epi-pens and Benadryl and are filling requests and distributing through EMS, hospitals, providers, etc,” the department said.

Yellow jackets can be particularly dangerous

Yellow jackets are typically more aggressive than bees, as they can both sting a person multiple times but can signal other yellow jackets to attack the same person, swarming them, according to insect repellent company Raid.

Officials in North Carolina are also taking steps to allow people to refill allergy prescriptions to avoid any complications.

“The NC Board of Pharmacy has flexibility so that people can get emergency refills on their prescribed allergy medicines. We are working to issue a standing order for Epi-pens for people to get medicines if they do not have a prescription from a provider,” the email said.

Contributing: Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.