Under the Dome: Lawmakers return for Helene relief, House speaker visits and Stein sues TikTok

Each week, join Dawn Vaughan for The News & Observer and NC Insider’s Under the Dome podcast, an in-depth analysis of topics in state government and politics for North Carolina.

Good morning and welcome to the Under the Dome newsletter. Today the North Carolina General Assembly is back in session for just one day.

It was scheduled as a placeholder session with no votes expected until a weeklong session in November. But then Hurricane Helene happened, and state lawmakers are using the day to pass the first round of Helene relief for Western North Carolina.

The day begins at 10 a.m. with a press conference from Republicans who control the legislature, including Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore. Democratic state Rep. Caleb Rudow, who represents hard-hit Buncombe County, is holding a news conference later.

The bill will replace House Bill 149, so you’ll soon be able to find it here. It is expected to pass both chambers today and then be sent to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. Legislators are scheduled to gavel in at noon in both chambers. .

The Office of State Budget and Management in Cooper’s administration sent its budget proposal on Monday to Berger and Moore. It calls for, among other things, using $250 million from the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund for Helene relief.

Read more coverage later today from our team.

— Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan

U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER TO VISIT NC

House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to travel to Western North Carolina on Wednesday evening to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene, Rep. Chuck Edwards announced in a news release Tuesday.

Edwards said Johnson plans to visit towns and small businesses hit by the storm.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm and traveled up the East Coast, bringing destruction to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia. At least 230 people have been found dead, with half from North Carolina.

President Joe Biden and Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd have all called on Congress to come back early to help with relief efforts, but so far Johnson has pushed back against that effort, saying lawmakers will return shortly after the election.

During election years, Congress typically recesses in October to give members time to campaign back home.

— Danielle Battaglia

HARRIS LAUNCHES NEW AD IN NC

As disinformation about Helene clouds recovery efforts, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launched an ad Monday night telling viewers that former President Donald Trump threatened to withhold disaster relief from areas where he wasn’t supported politically.

To back up these claims, the Harris campaign had two former Trump administration officials speak in the ad: Olivia Troye and Kevin Carroll.

“He would suggest not giving disaster relief to states that hadn’t voted for him,” Carroll says in the ad.

Helene has led to a disinformation campaign so severe that both Republicans and Democrats from North Carolina to the White House have had to rebuke it.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on elected officials from every level to call for “an end to these conspiracy theories.”

“False information following a disaster can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it more,” Jean-Pierre said. “Everyone, especially those in positions of power, must do everything they can do to encourage survivors to register for assistance, not discourage them by allowing these falsehoods to fester.”

CNN tallied at least six days of disinformation that came from Trump himself.

And among the allegations Trump made, without factual basis, was that Gov. Roy Cooper was going out of his way to avoid helping his Republican constituents.

But that’s exactly what some on Trump’s former team, and the ad, accuse him of doing.

Troye and another official first told Politico’s E&E about Trump’s tendencies to want to punish communities for their lack of support, and provide extra to the ones who did support him.

They said Trump’s initially refused to help California during the 2018 wildfires. The fires killed 108 people and caused more than $25 billion in property damage.

But Troye says in the ad that Trump didn’t initially want to help Califorinia recover because “it was a Democratic state.”

“We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas, to show these are people who voted for you,” Troye said. “This isn’t normal. The job of the president is to protect Americans. Regardless of politics.”

The ad is airing digitally in battleground states including North Carolina as part of a $370 million fall paid media campaign.

— Danielle Battaglia

NC ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES TIKTOK

Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit with a bipartisan group of 12 other attorneys general against TikTok on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Wake County Superior Court, alleges that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance designed an addictive app that poses serious “mental, emotional, and physical risks” to young users, and ignored warnings about those harms “because their business model and desire for advertising revenue require keeping consumers on the app as much as possible.”

In a 56-page complaint, the plaintiffs allege that TikTok designed “coercive platform features to manipulate the vulnerabilities” of children and teenagers using the app and “promote excessive and compulsive use.”

The lawsuit claims that ByteDance placed more robust protections on Douyin, the version of TikTok only available in China, and by contrast, “saw American children and teens as an irresistible ‘golden audience.’”

In a statement, Stein, the Democratic candidate for governor in next month’s election, said that TikTok “knowingly created a product that harmed children, and then it deceived everyone about how dangerous and addictive the product was.”

“They did this to make more money. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling — you have to be honest about the risks, and you have to follow the law,” Stein said. “TikTok failed in both regards, and our children suffer. So, I’m taking them to court to make them do better by our kids.”

— Avi Bajpai

CAMPAIGN WATCH

GOP attorney general candidate and Rep. Dan Bishop and congressional candidate Brad Knott are slated to speak at NC House candidate Mike Schietzelt’s campaign fundraiser tonight in Wake Forest.

VOTER GUIDE

In the latest candidate questionnaires from our 2024 NC Voter Guide, see what candidates for state superintendent have to say about the issues, and learn more about their biographies.

Democrat Mo Green answered our questions.

His opponent, Republican Michele Morrow, did not. Here’s Morrow’s questionnaire from the March primary.

Today’s newsletter was by Emily Vespa with contributions from Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, Danielle Battaglia and Avi Bajpai. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.

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