On Wednesday night, House lawmakers advanced a standalone measure to help Western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene. It will move to a floor vote on Thursday.

While House Bill 1012 is technically separate from the House budget plan, I’d think of the 13-page proposal as budget-adjacent. That’s because, like the budget, it would claw back the $500 million given through the 2023 budget to NCInnovation, a private nonprofit established to bolster public university research (this provision goes away if that part of the budget is ultimately enacted). This is something the Senate almost assuredly won’t go for, as it wants to continued supporting NCInnovation, at least for the next four years.

The House plan would draw an additional $74 million from existing state funds that are no longer needed.

Unlike the budget, HB 1012 makes more sweeping and immediate allocations that would get money out the door quicker. Overall, it would send out nearly $465 million in disaster relief, roughly half of the total $891 million in spending requested by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

Here’s a few toplines:

The House plan includes $60 million for small business recovery grants. Democrats have long pushed for such grants, while some Republican leaders have preferred loans instead. The House standalone bill paves the way for more direct and sustained assistance.

In some ways, it’s more ambitious the plan Stein put forward on Monday. The governor’s proposal called for $50 million in small business recovery grants. Stein, however, wanted businesses to get up to $100,000 to recoup their losses. The House budget gives them up to $75,000.