(RALEIGH) -- A legislative study committee is being created to see if any lessons can be learned from the response to the April 16th tornado outbreak. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger says, "We just wanted to make sure that we had the mechanism in place in the event that there are things we need to do, and to review what is taking place."

Berger says the newly created panel will report and recommend further legislative action to the General Assembly.

"There may be something that we will learn from this that may help us ... to make the State's response more effective in the event something like this happens again."

What can be learned from April 16 tornado outbreak? That is a question that House speaker Tom Tillis says the joint legislative panel will seek to answer.

"I think what we are really trying to do it monitor the response, see if we can learn from it while the experiences are fresh, and see if there is anything we can do differently."

Tillis says the joint legislative committee will provide some suggestions on legislative action to help with future storms.

"We will get a real time read on what the needs are and if there is anything the Legislature can do help us be more responsive - get resources on the ground - we just want to be as responsive as we can be."

Republican Sen. Louis Pate of Wayne County, and Republican Rep. Mike Stone of Lee County will serve as co-chairs of the bipartisan committee that will be comprised of House and Senate members from districts where a state of emergency was declared in connection with the tornadoes.