The current balance of the state’s rainy day fund is $4.75 billion

State lawmakers will meet in Raleigh Wednesday to pass a $273 million disaster relief bill to help western North Carolina communities devastated by Hurricane Helene last month.

The bill they’ll take up Wednesday is House Bill 149, an unrelated measure that was already in conference committee. They’ll strip out the contents and replace it with their relief package. Because H149 is a conference report, it will require only one vote in each chamber, and no amendments can be made to it. The state will get funding help from the federal government, but it also has plenty of money set aside to work with. According to the state controller’s office, the current balance of the state’s rainy day fund is $4.75 billion. The state also has $733 million in an emergency response and disaster reserve account, giving lawmakers nearly $5.5 billion in immediately available funding.

The state also has an array of other reserve funds totaling more than $3 billion. Those other reserve funds are earmarked for specific purposes, like Medicaid cost overruns or information technology, but are available if needed.