North Carolina state representatives have passed legislation prohibiting those rendering emergency aid from discriminating against those they assist based on political affiliation or political speech.
H.B. 251 also adds “a provision that no applicant for any State emergency assistance in the form of grants shall be required to provide any personal demographic information unless the information is necessary to award the grant or is otherwise required by law.”
“This came about after an incident that occurred following Helene, and word was getting out that FEMA was actually discriminating against people based on their political speech,” Republican State Rep. Kelly Hastings, R-Gaston, said on the House floor Thursday, according to The Carolina Journal. “And so that’s when we decided we might want to send a clear message about discriminating against someone based on their political speech, being that political speech is under our constitutional jurisprudence – maybe the highest protected speech that we have.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) came under fire last year when an agency supervisor allegedly instructed workers to avoid reaching out to homeowners with Trump signs in their yards after Hurricane Milton, which struck the U.S. about two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated areas across six states. Helene was the most deadly hurricane since Katrina.
A Trump flag posted to a tree in Helene-devastated Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Jan. 24, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
The bill passed the House on April 1 by a vote of 106-10 — the 10 no votes all coming from Democrats, as The Northern State reported.
The former FEMA supervisor who issued the instructions, Marn’i Washington, appeared on “Fox News @ Night” on Nov. 14 and said she was “simply executing” orders from her superiors to avoid political encounters that could be hostile.
A Trump sign posted to a telephone pole in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Jan. 24, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
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