Category: Action

Posted on

Nearly 100 Members of Congress Sign-on in Support of $225 Million in HPF Funding. Did Your Members Sign-on? Be Sure to Thank Them!

This year, 93 bipartisan Senators and Representatives — representing 34 different states and territories — signed on to the FY2025 Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) Dear Colleague letters. Scroll down to see the names of each signer, and be sure to thank them if your elected representative is one of them!

The House letter and Senate letter both requested $225 million in funding for the Historic Preservation Fund, the same level Preservation Action advocated for during Historic Preservation Advocacy Week. $225M includes much-needed increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices as well as critically important competitive grant programs. Specifically, the requested funding levels for the HPF include:

  • $70 million for State Historic Preservation Offices
  • $40 million for Save America’s Treasures
  • $34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices
  • $28 million for the African American Civil Rights grant program
  • $17 million for Paul Bruhn grants
  • $13 million for HBCU preservation grants
  • $11 million for the Semiquincentennial grant program
  • $7 million for the History of Equal Rights Grant program
  • $5 million for Underrepresented Communities Grants

The letters also noted the urgent need to reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund. The House letter was led by the co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), while the Senate letter was again led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The letters were submitted to the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee last month and show substantial support for the Historic Preservation Fund.

Thank you to everyone that reached out to their members of Congress and urged them to sign on in support of a record funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. Preservation Action would especially like to thank Reps. Turner and Blumenauer and Sens. Gillibrand and Cassidy for their efforts on these letters and continued leadership on historic preservation!

Did your Representative and Senators sign-on? Be sure to thank them for their vocal support of historic preservation! Below are the list of signers organized by state.

U.S House Members

  • Raúl Grijalva (AZ)
  • Mark DeSaulnier (CA)
  • Julia Brownley (CA)
  • Judy Chu (CA)
  • Jimmy Gomez (CA)
  • Mike Thompson (CA)
  • Nanette Barragán (CA)
  • Katie Porter (CA)
  • Diana DeGette (CO)
  • Joe Neguse (CO)
  • Joe Courtney (CT)
  • Jim Himes (CT)
  • Jahana Hayes (CT)
  • Eleanor H. Norton (DC)
  • Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)
  • Jared Moskowitz (FL)
  • Darren Soto (FL)
  • “Buddy” Carter (GA)
  • Nikema Williams (GA)
  • Lucy McBath (GA)
  • Bill Foster (IL)
  • Nikki Budzinski (IL)
  • Darin LaHood (IL)
  • Danny Davis (IL)
  • Jan Schakowsky (IL)
  • André Carson (IN)
  • Sharice Davids (KS)
  • Troy Carter (LA)
  • Garret Graves (LA)
  • James McGovern (MA)
  • Ayanna Pressley (MA)
  • William Keating (MA)
  • John Sarbanes (MD)
  • Kweisi Mfume (MD)
  • Jamie Raskin (MD)
  • Hillary Scholten (MI)
  • Daniel Kildee (MI)
  • Elissa Slotkin (MI)
  • Angie Craig (MN)
  • Ilhan Omar (MN)
  • Alma Adams (NC)
  • Kathy Manning (NC)
  • Andy Kim (NJ)
  • Bill Pascrell (NJ)
  • Melanie Stansbury (NM)
  • Teresa Leger Fernández (NM)
  • Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (NMI)
  • Dina Titus (NV)
  • Steven Horsford (NV)
  • Michael Lawler (NY)
  • Paul Tonko (NY)
  • Jerrold Nadler (NY)
  • Michael Turner (OH) | co-lead
  • Mike Carey (OH)
  • Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
  • Earl Blumenauer (OR) | co-lead
  • Summer Lee (PA)
  • Brendan Boyle (PA)
  • Dwight Evans (PA)
  • Madeleine Dean (PA)
  • Chrissy Houlahan (PA)
  • Jennifer González-Colón (PR)
  • Seth Magaziner (RI)
  • Sheila Jackson Lee (TX)
  • Gerald Connolly (VA)
  • Jennifer McClellan (VA)
  • Abigail Spanberger (VA)
  • Don Beyer (VA)
  • Stacey Plaskett (VI)
  • Rick Larsen (WA)
  • Adam Smith (WA)

U.S Senators

  • Mark Kelly (AZ)
  • Laphonza Butler (CA)
  • Alex Padilla (CA)
  • Richard Blumenthal (CT)
  • Jon Ossoff (GA)
  • Bill Cassidy, M.D. (LA) | co-lead
  • Edward J. Markey (MA)
  • Chris Van Hollen (MD)
  • Benjamin L. Cardin (MD)
  • Angus S. King, Jr. (ME)
  • Debbie Stabenow (MI)
  • Tina Smith (MN)
  • Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) | co-lead
  • Sherrod Brown (OH)
  • Ron Wyden (OR)
  • Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
  • Jack Reed (RI)
  • Tim Kaine (VA)
  • Mark R. Warner (VA)
  • Bernard Sanders (VT)
  • Tammy Duckworth (WI)
Posted on

Action Alert: Take Action to Reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund!

Urge Your Members of Congress to Support Efforts to Reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund!

The Historic Preservation Fund is currently unauthorized. Congress need to hear from preservation advocates. We need your help!

Reach out to your members of Congress and urge them to support efforts to reauthorize the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF).

The Historic Preservation Fund is the principal funding source to implement the the nation’s historic preservation programs. The program is funded through oil and gas lease revenue, not taxpayer dollars. For more than 45 years, the HPF has empowered states and local entities to preserve the buildings and sites that tell their community’s stories. The HPF supports State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices in carrying out their federally mandated duties to protect historic resources and evaluate the impact of federal projects on them. The HPF also supports a number of critically important competitive grant programs that are helping to revitalize communities and preserve places that tell a more diverse and inclusive American story.

Reauthorization is imperative to the ongoing success of the HPF program.

The bipartisan Historic Preservation Fund Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3350) would reauthorize the HPF for 10 years and increase the program’s current authorization from $150 million to $250 million. Despite growing workloads for SHPOs and THPOs and the expansion of HPF-funded competitive grant programs, the HPF’s authorization has never been increased. Increased authorization is needed to provide long term stability.

In addition to H.R. 3350, the recent FY24 Senate Interior Appropriations bill included a one year authorization for the HPF. While a longer-term and increased authorization is needed, including a short-term authorization as part of a future Continuing Resolution, Omnibus package, or other legislative vehicle would provide a temporary fix and avoid a long lapse in authorization.

The longer the HPF remains unauthorized, the more uncertainty it causes for states and tribes that rely on this funding and the more undermines the longstanding commitment of Congress to the preservation of our historic resources.

Take Action!

Urge your members of Congress to support the HPF Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3350) and look for ways to include HPF authorization as part of upcoming legislative vehicles.

If you have a personal contact in your member’s office, contact that person directly. Share the new HPF Authorization one-pager and urge them to support efforts to reauthorize the HPF. Preservation Action has also made it easy for you take action. Check out our action campaign to easily personalize and send a letter to your members of Congress and share this alert with your networks!

TAKE ACTION

Additional resources:

Posted on

Action Alert: Invite Your Members of Congress on a Historic Site Tour During the August Recess

The August congressional recess is just around the corner. Preservation Action encourages you to ramp up your advocacy efforts around the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 1785), S. 639) and Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) Reauthorization Act (H.R. 3350) by encouraging your members of Congress to visit a HTC project, HPF project, or historic site. Members of Congress are scheduled to be back in-district/state from July 29th to Sept. 4th. We’re asking members and supporters to reach out to your Representative and Senators and invite them to tour a Historic Tax Credit project or other historic site in their district/state. Be sure to encourage them to support and cosponsor the HTC-GO Act and HPF Reauthorization Act.

Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) touring the Old City Hall in Tacoma, WA

The August recess is the best opportunity for lawmakers to see the incredible benefits of the Historic Tax Credit and Historic Preservation Fund first-hand. If your Representative or Senators serve on the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Natural Resources Committee or Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, these members are especially important to contact. Reach out to your members of Congress today!

Take Action!

  • Reach out to your members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act and Historic Preservation Fund Reauthorization Act. Preservation Action has made it easy for you to take action. Check out our HTC-GO Action Alert and HPF Reauthorization Action Alert to learn more!
  • Invite your members of Congress to tour a completed, in-progress, or potential HTC project or other historic site in their district/state. This is one of most effective ways to demonstrate the value of the HTC and HPF. Be sure to also discuss how the HTC-GO could further benefit communities across their district/state and how HPF helps to administer these programs. Be flexible with possible dates to meet, but if your member of Congress is unavailable, offer to meet with their staff. Be persistent. Sometimes it will take multiple touches.
  • Review the Congressional site-visit guide put together by our partners at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Trust Community Investment Corporation to make it easy for advocates to reach out to their lawmakers.

If you need any assistance arranging a site visit or meeting contact Rob Naylor at Preservation Action (rnaylor@preservationaction.org). Also be sure share stories and photos from your site visits with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Resources:

Posted on

Advocacy Alert: Urge Your Members of Congress to Cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act

Senate and House champions have reintroduced the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 1785, S.639). Led by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in the Senate and Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) in the House, these bills include four permanent provisions that will add value to the Historic Tax Credit (HTC), improve access to the credit, make more projects eligible to use the credit, and increase investment in smaller rehabilitation projects. The House version of the bill also includes a temporary provision to address recent challenges facing historic rehabilitation projects. The bill including the following changes:

Permanent Provisions

  • Establishes a permanent 30% Historic Tax Credit for projects $2.5 million and less, making it easier to complete small projects
  • Eliminates the HTC Basis Adjustment, bringing more value to HTCs and making it easier to pair with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
  • Reduces the substantial rehabilitation threshold, making more buildings eligible to use the HTC
  • Makes the credit easier to use by non-profits

Temporary Provision (House version only)

  • This provision increases the HTC percentage from 20% to 30% for 2023 through 2026.
  • The credit percentage is phased down to 26% in 2027, 23% in 2028, and returns to 20% in 2029 and thereafter.

The federal HTC is the largest federal investment in historic preservation and a critical economic development tool used to revitalize our communities. Unfortunately, the value of the HTC incentive has diminished over the past decade because of IRS rulings, administrative burdens, changes in the credit structure, as well as spreading the distribution of the credit over five years as modified by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. As a result, the HTC has lost 20 – 25% of its investment value as interest rates continue to climb and materials and labor costs soar. National Park Service statistics indicate that HTC applications are down 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels (2019), and the number of projects continues to decline even as the economy is rebounding. Historic buildings have simply become more difficult to rehabilitate.

We need your help! Urge your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the bipartisan Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 1785, S. 639) and look for opportunities to include these provisions in future tax legislation. Help us build on the momentum from last Congress that saw a record number of co-sponsors on the bill.

If you have a personal contact in your Representative or Senators’ office, contact that person directly, especially if you just met with their office during Advocacy Week. Urge them to co-sponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 1785, S. 639). If they do not handle tax issues please ask that they pass the message along to the appropriate staff person. Preservation Action has also made it easy for you take action. Check out our action campaign to easily personalize and send a letter to your members of Congress and share this alert with your networks!

TAKE ACTION

Additional Resources

Posted on

Urge Your Members of Congress to Sign-on the Bipartisan FY24 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter Today!

Congress is in the appropriations process, which will determine Fiscal Year 2024 funding levels for historic preservation. We need your help! FY24 Dear Colleague letters in support of the Historic Preservation Fund are currently circulating in the Senate. The letter request $225 million in funding for the Historic Preservation Fund, the same level Preservation Action advocated for during Historic Preservation Advocacy Week. The dear colleague letter includes much-needed increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, which are facing increased workloads as the infrastructure bill is implemented, and increases to critically important competitive grant programs. Check out our Historic Preservation Fund Appropriations 1-Pager to learn more.

To maximize the impact of the letter, we need as many Senators to sign-on as possible. We’ve made it easy for you to take action, click-on the Action Alert below to easily personalize and send a letter to your Senators.

Deadlines for signatures are quickly approaching, so reach out to your U.S Senators TODAY!

Senate

  • The Senate letter is being led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
  • Signatures due: Thursday March 30, 2023
  • If you have a personal contact in your Senator’s office, contact that person directly, especially if you just met with their office during Advocacy Week, and urge them to sign-on to the HPF dear colleague letter. If they do not handle Interior Appropriations please ask that they pass the message along to the Interior Appropriations staffer. Preservation Action has also made it easy for you take action. Check out our action campaign to easily personalize and send a letter to your Senators today!
SENATE ACTION ALERT

House

  • Thank you for reaching out to your Representatives!
  • The House letter received 86 bipartisan cosigners and was submitted to the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee.
  • Thank you to the co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) for leading the letter!
  • Did your Representative sign-on? Be sure to thank them!

The letters will be submitted to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee respectively and marks a strong commitment to protecting our historic resources for future generations.

Thank you for your advocacy!