by Doug Bock Clark

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For years, North Carolina’s Republican-majority Legislature has taken steps big and small to wrench power from Democratic governors and the agencies under their control.

One move that didn’t get much attention — tucked into a 628-page budget bill four years ago — was to direct $15 million in funding for sexual assault victims away from Democratic-led agencies that had long overseen such money. The money instead would be funneled through the North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission, an obscure group that’s part of the state’s GOP-helmed courts system.

What happened next illuminates how efforts to consolidate power in one branch of government can help political insiders and hurt vulnerable populations. With President Donald Trump executing a similar but far more drastic power grab in Washington, the events in North Carolina provide a glimpse of the longer-term outcomes when a branch of government assumes unprecedented control.

The Human Trafficking Commission — which at that time was a two-person operation — was an unusual choice for distributing funding to the dozens of local service providers that assist survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Prior to 2021, two state agencies had effectively carried out that task.

People who worked for the Human Trafficking Commission and for the Legislature warned their bosses that redirecting the funds could overwhelm the commission and harm survivors, according to multiple sources with knowledge of discussions. They said the commission was not equipped to handle more than $28 million in grants over two years, given that it previously had an annual budget of about $250,000.

This ultimately proved true, according to the commission’s former top grants administrator, Kathy Estrada.

“We just did not have the capabilities to do it,” said Estrada, who recalled informing her leadership repeatedly in 2024 that her staff was overwhelmed and underresourced, relying on makeshift Excel spreadsheets instead of industry-standard grants management software. “Even if we worked all day overtime, it was just impossible to get done.”

Staffers the state’s crisis centers told ProPublica that payments were delayed for months. The money was supposed to be allocated by June 2023, but in April of that year the Legislature revised the law to remove that deadline. The earliest initial installment for services to reach any of those 18 centers came in May, according to records ProPublica received from the commission. Some had to wait until February 2024. The majority are still waiting for their full funding.

Leaders of some of those centers say that, even today, the disruptions in funding continue to limit the services they can offer to women who come to them for urgent, potentially life-saving help.

The events at the Human Trafficking Commission are part of a pattern by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and judiciary to deprive elected Democrats of resources and powers. Shortly after Democrat Roy Cooper was elected governor in 2016, lawmakers passed sweeping legislation that stripped him of various powers, including removing his ability to hire and fire over 1,000 key government positions. (Many of these changes were contested in court, and some were reversed.) Shortly after Democrat Josh Stein was elected to succeed Cooper last fall, the Legislature passed another law that stripped him and other Democratic officials of numerous powers, including control of the board that manages the state’s elections, which is now the subject of multiple lawsuits.

When lawmakers created the budget that redirected funds to the Human Trafficking Commission, they specifically set aside additional money for political allies. One particular faith-based group was prioritized in the budget bill to receive the most funding — $640,000. That group had been created by the former head of the state GOP about two months before its name showed up in the budget bill in 2021. By October........

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