AN ACT to establish a grant program at the department of commerce to assist residents affected by hurricane helene in obtaining a commercial drivers license and post‑training employment.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  The Department of Commerce shall establish a grant program to encourage and facilitate residents of Western North Carolina that were impacted by Hurricane Helene to obtain commercial drivers licenses (CDLs). The grant program established in this section shall provide funds to a qualifying CDL training provider to cover the cost of CDL training programs and shall provide stipends for temporary accommodations for trainees in the CDL programs receiving funding under this section. A qualifying CDL training provider shall meet the following criteria:

(1)        Must offer a four‑week accelerated CDL training program.

(2)        Must be authorized to conduct on‑site CDL testing to streamline licensing.

(3)        Must have enrollment and training facilities within a 75‑mile radius of Asheville.

SECTION 1.(b)  The Department of Commerce shall provide a qualifying CDL training provider a grant equaling four thousand dollars ($4,000) per trainee, payable to the qualifying CDL training provider upon successful completion of the program and the receipt of a CDL by the trainee. The Department of Commerce shall also provide a grant equaling one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for trainees needing accommodations during their participation in the CDL training program, payable directly to participating local hotels or motels proximally located to the CDL training facility, for trainees that demonstrate a financial need and that do not reside in close proximity to the CDL training facility. The Department shall award no more than two hundred seventy‑seven thousand five hundred dollars ($277,500) of funds appropriated in this act for grants for trainee accommodations. A trainee under this section shall be a resident of this State, and priority shall be given to residents of a county affected by Hurricane Helene. The Department of Commerce shall establish a streamlined application system, including options for online and in‑person applications, to verify residency, assess financial need, and facilitate program enrollment. In addition, the Department of Commerce shall organize partnerships with (i) local hotels and motels for receipt of grants for trainee stipends and (ii) local employers and construction firms to assist graduates of the CDL training program in securing employment directly linked to disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts.

SECTION 1.(c)  For the purposes of this section, the terms CDL training provider and CDL training programs refer to entry‑level driver training, as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 380.605.

SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding G.S. 143C‑5‑2, there is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Commerce the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2025‑2026 fiscal year to be used for the grant program described in Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2025.