Category: Action

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Proposed Rule Changes Threaten National Register of Historic Places Nominations

Update: June 07, 2021

Today, the National Park Service announced they would be officially withdrawing the March 2019 proposal to revise regulations governing the listing of properties in the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed rule changes would have had a devastating impact on how historic resources are nominated to the National Register and determined eligible. The announcement from the National Park Service, specifically cited the more than 3,200 comments that were received and the concerns raised by the historic preservation community throughout the review process.

While it was announced in January that the proposed rule changes would not be implemented, we are very pleased the proposed rules are bring withdrawn entirely. This is a HUGE win for preservation. Thank you to everyone who made their voices heard over the last two years. Clearly the engagement of historic preservation advocates throughout the review process had a big impact. 

Update: January 19, 2021

We have been advised that the proposed harmful rule changes to the National Register of Historic Places will not be implemented, according to an administration official source! This is a HUGE win for preservation and we look forward to a formal announcement coming soon!

Thanks to the more than 3,200 people who made their voices heard, the detrimental proposed regulatory changes to the National Register hit a wall! These changes would have had a significant negative impact on our communities, including how properties were nominated and determined eligible.

Update: October 30, 2020

The National Park Service is moving closer to finalizing rule changes to the National Register of Historic Places that will have a significant impact on how properties are nominated to the National Register and determined eligible. The rulemaking is currently under it’s final review by the Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

At this time interested parties can request a meeting with OIRA to discuss concerns about the National Register rulemaking during this final review stage and reference RIN 1024-AE49.

Update: May 24, 2019

The National Park Service (NPS) announced, in response to concerns raised in the public comment period, that they would conduct a government to government consultation with with Tribes regarding the proposed rule changes to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service will hold two consultation meetings with tribes and is accepting additional comments from tribes through July 8th. Thanks to everyone that submitted comments and made their voice heard! Check out the Tribal Consultation Notice for more information and stay tuned for the latest.

Update: May 01, 2019

Thanks to everyone who made their voice heard and submitted comments to the proposed rule changes to the National Register of Historic Places.  The preservation community has spoken loud and clear, the proposed regulatory changes will have a significant negative impact on our citizens and on our communities. More than 3,200 comments were submitted, the vast majority expressing strong concerns. Preservation Action’s official comments are available below.

Now the submitted comments will be reviewed by the National Park Service. Preservation Action will continue our advocacy efforts as the process continues. Stay tuned for more.

Preservation Action National Register Comments

 

Action Alert
April 15, 2019

TAKE ACTION! Submit Comments on the Proposed Rule Changes to the National Register by April 30th

Race Street in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH. The Historic Tax Credit has been instrumental in the resurgence of neighborhoods like Over-the-Rhine. The proposed rule changes to the National Register could make it more difficult for communities across the country to take advantage of the Historic Tax Credit, since HTCs require the property to be listed on the National Register.

Preservation Action Objects to Harmful Proposed Rule Changes to National Register of Historic Places

Preservation Action is highly concerned with proposed revisions to the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed rule changes would substantially impact how historic resources are nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and determined eligible. While the stated intent is to bring regulations current with recent amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the proposed revisions clearly go far beyond that purpose and are inconsistent with the language in and intent of the NHPA.

7 Ways the Proposed Revisions Would Negatively Impact Your Community:
 

1. Federal historic properties. Federal agencies will be given total control of whether to nominate properties under their jurisdiction, meaning federally owned historic properties may no longer be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2. Federal ownership in a historic district. A historic district nomination can be blocked if only one property in the entire district is owned by the US Government and the agency that owns the property objects to listing.

3. Property owner objections. Owners of large properties will be given an outweighed ability to block the listing of historic districts or other nominations to the National Register. Under the proposed revisions, objections to National Register listings will be based on the ownership of a majority of the land area in addition to the current counting of one private owner, one vote. There is no statutory authority to make this change and any such change would place a near impossible burden on State Historic Preservation Officers to implement.

4. Historic Tax Credit Projects. The vast majority of federal historic tax credit projects are in National Register historic districts. Changing the rules for owner objections to nominations will jeopardize the listing of new historic districts, and thus restrict the use of historic tax credits.

5. Section 106. Determinations of eligibility for listing in the National Register are the primary vehicle for considering whether a property is worthy of consideration under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The federal agency, not the Keeper of the National Register, will have the final say on the eligibility of a property under its jurisdiction, thereby thwarting consultation on a project.

6. Appeal Process. By law, any person or local government has the right to appeal the failure of a nominating authority to nominate a property to the National Register. That right will disappear if the property is a federally owned and the agency objects.

7. Consultation with Affected Parties. The proposed revisions falsely claim there would be no impact on federally recognized Indian tribes even though the changes would have a substantial effect on the recognition and consideration of historic places they value, which is contrary to the requirement to consult with tribes. Additionally, the revisions fail to consider potential concerns of State Historic Preservation Officers or others involved in historic preservation who would be drastically impacted and forced to adhere to these new rules.

 
Additional Resources
Preservation Action is not alone in our concerns. Read what our partner organizations have said:
 
 
 
 

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Action Alert: Continue to Urge Your Senators to Strengthen Historic Tax Credit in Relief Legislation

COVID-19 Relief Legislation Stalled- Keep Up Your Advocacy Efforts to Include HTC Provisions

As you have probably seen in the news, congressional leaders and the White House failed to reach an agreement on the next round of COVID-19 relief and recovery legislation before departing for the August recess. The Senate released a more narrowly focused proposal in July, which centered around liability protection, adequately funding healthcare needs, and safely reopening schools. The two sides remain far apart on top line spending numbers, but both have priorities they want accomplished and face continued political forces which should keep pressure on them to return to the negotiating table. The timeline for action remains uncertain. Congress is slated to be on recess until after the Labor Day weekend, but they could be called back sooner. Preservation Action will continue to monitor the negotiations taking place and keep you posted in the latest developments. While the talks are currently stalled, it’s critical we keep up our efforts.

Join us in continuing to urge your Senators to incorporate the HTC provisions in the next round of COVID-19 relief and recovery legislation. We’re asking Senators to include the HTC changes called for in the House passed infrastructure package, the Moving Forward Act (H.R 2).  This includes enhancements from the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act to strengthen the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) and temporary provisions aimed specifically at addressing the challenges that rehabilitation projects are facing during the pandemic. Additionally, these changes will aid economic recovery, benefiting struggling communities across the country. Specifically, we’re urging Congress to incorporate the following HTC provisions:

  • A temporary increase of the Historic Tax Credit from 20% to 30% for 5 years.
  • Establishes a permanent 30% Historic Tax Credit for projects $2.5 million and less
  • Eliminates the HTC Basis Adjustment, bringing more value to HTCs
  • Reduces the Historic Rehab Test to 50% of a building’s basis instead of 100%
  • Makes the credit easier to use by non-profits
  • A provision for communities to rehabilitate existing public schools using the HTC
  • Temporary extension of period for completing rehabilitation

We need your help! Continue to reach out to your Senators and urge them to include these much-needed Historic Tax Credit provisions in the next COVID-19 relief and recovery bill.

How to Take Action:

Preservation Action has made it easy for you take action. Use our new action campaign to easily edit and send a letter to your Senator’s office today! If you have a personal contact in your Senators office, reach out to them directly. You can also share our Action Alert with your networks and on social media. Also be sure to share any responses you receive with Preservation Action at mail@preservationaction.org to help inform our advocacy efforts.

Send Letter Directly!


Site Visits

Members of Congress are currently back home during the August recess, this is a great time to invite your members to safely tour a Historic Tax Credit project in their state/district. They can see first hand the impact the HTC has on their communities, the challenges many of these rehabilitation projects are facing due to the pandemic, and how the proposed changes to the HTC will help to stimulate the local economy. We hear time and again from congressional staff about the importance of congressional site visits to show the tangible impact of programs like the Historic Tax Credit.

Check out our In-District Lobbying Guide or the Arranging a Congressional Site Visit guide from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to learn more about scheduling a site visit. If you need any assistance, feel free to contact us mail@preservationaction.org.

Additional Resources

Historic Tax Credit Economic Stimulus Talking Points
Historic Tax Credit Project Maps by State 2002-2019
Virtual Preservation Month Briefing: Historic Preservation’s Role in Recover

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Action Alert: Thank Your Members of Congress for Supporting the Great American Outdoors Act

Thanks Your Members for Supporting the Great American Outdoors Act

The House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422, H.R 7092) with strong, bipartisan support and this week the President signed it into law. This important bill will fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually and provide dedicated funding to address the deferred maintenance backlog at the National Park Service and on other public lands. Thank you for reaching out to your members of Congress in support of this important bill!

The Great American Outdoors Act not only supports continued public access and enjoyment of our nation’s public lands, but also helps support and protect cultural and historic sites across the country. The LWCF has been used to preserve battlefields like Gettysburg National Military Park and iconic sites like the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The bill also addresses the nearly $12 billion backlog at the National Park Service, an estimated 43% is attributed to historic resources.  Preservation Action included this important bill in  our request to Congress to support historic preservation priorities in future stimulus legislation.

Thank Your Members of Congress

Preservation Action made it easy for you to take action. Send a letter directly to your members of Congress thanking them supporting the Great American Outdoors Act today!

Thank Your Members of Congress
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Action Alert: Include Preservation Programs in Recovery and Stimulus Legislation

Urge Congress to Include Historic Preservation Programs in Future Coronavirus Stimulus and Relief Legislation

Update: 7-01-2020

This week, the House passed the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill. This bill includes several provisions and temporary measures to expand and enhance the Historic Tax Credit. The bill includes the following Historic Tax Credit provisions:

  • A temporary increase of the Historic Tax Credit from 20% to 30% for 5 years.
  • Establishes a permanent 30% Historic Tax Credit for projects $2.5 million and less
  • Eliminates the HTC Basis Adjustment, bringing more value to HTCs
  • Reduces the Historic Rehab Test to 50% of a building’s basis instead of 100%
  • Makes the credit easier to use by non-profits
  • A provision for communities to rehabilitate existing public schools using the HTC
  • Temporary extension of period for completing rehabilitation

Several of these provisions were included in the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (S.2615 / H.R. 2825) and in the request that Preservation Action and our partners sent to Congress.

Take Action!

Attention now turns to the Senate. Urge your Senators to support the Historic Tax Credit provisions included in the Moving Forward Act. If you have a personal contact in your Senator’s Washington D.C or District office, contact that person directly. Encourage them to support the Historic Tax Credit provisions included in the Moving Forward Act (H.R 2) and forward them the Historic Tax Credit Economic Stimulus Request Talking Points. Also be sure to thank your Representative for their support. You can also use this easy to use tool from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Find Your Representative
Find Your Senators


As Congress is considering future relief efforts in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Preservation Action along with our partners are advocating to make sure the historic preservation community is part of that conversation. Preservation Action joined our partners at the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers along with more than 30 organizations and businesses in a letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee requesting $120 million for the Historic Preservation Fund.

  • $30 million to support survey and digitization for State Historic Preservation Officers and $15 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.
  • $75 million for Certified Local Governments to support brick and mortar projects.

We also joined for the National Trust for Historic Preservation along with more than 375 organizations and businesses in sending a preservation community letter to House and Senate leaders requesting support for preservation programs that would help to stimulate the economy. The letter calls for:

  • Including the provisions of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (S.2615 / H.R. 2825) and additional changes including a temporary increase in the value of the HTC from 20% to 30%.
  • $30 million to support survey and digitization for State Historic Preservation Officers and $15 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.
  • $75 million for Certified Local Governments to support brick and mortar projects.
  • $300 million to support existing Historic Preservation Fund grant programs ($75 million each for Civil Rights grants, Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants, Save America’s Treasures, and HBCU Preservation program).
  • Enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422).
  • Additional provisions supporting charitable giving and the non-profit community
  • Urging opposition to legislative exemptions for the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Protection Act.

Thank you to everyone that joined us by signing on to these letters.

Take Action! Urge your Representatives and Senators to support historic preservation programs that help to stimulate the economy as part of future coronavirus relief and recovery efforts.

If you have a personal contact in your Representative or Senator’s Washington D.C or District office, contact that person directly. Or you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative or Senator’s DC office. Please keep in mind that most congressional staff are working remotely at this time.

Share the historic preservation assistance request letter, preservation community letter, and Historic Tax Credit Economic Economic Stimulus Request Talking Points with your members. Ask them to support historic preservation programs that help stimulate the economy as part of future coronavirus relief and recovery efforts. This includes additional funding for the Historic Preservation Fund which would support programs that help local economies, while preserving irreplaceable historic resources. And support enhancements to the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC) that would increase rehabilitation activities, create jobs, and spur economic development in local economies.

Find Your Represntative
Find Your Senators

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Additional Resources

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Urge Your Members of Congress to Sign-on to the FY21 HPF Dear Colleague Letter Today!

Update: The FY21 House HPF Dear Colleague Letter received 120 signatures and was submitted to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Thanks everyone for reaching out to your Representatives. There’s still time to reach out to your Senators!
 
Ask Your Members of Congress To Sign-on in Support of Historic Preservation Funding in Congress
 
Congress is starting the appropriations process which will determine Fiscal Year 2021 funding levels for historic preservation. The co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), are leading the bipartisan FY21 Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) Dear Colleague Letter in the House. The letter request $150 million in funding for the HPF, the same level Preservation Action is advocating for during Advocacy Week and represents full funding for the HPF. The request includes significant increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, and increases to critically important competitive grant programs. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand are leading the FY21 HPF Dear Colleague Letter in the Senate. 
 
The letters will be submitted to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. This marks a strong commitment to the HPF and we can’t thank Representatives Blumenauer and Turner and Senators Cassidy and Gillibrand enough for their continued support and leadership of historic preservation.
 
Congress needs to hear from preservationists.
 
To maximize the impact of the letter, we need as many Representatives and Senators to sign-on as possible. Urge your Representative and Senators to sign-on to the FY21 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter today! Time is of the essence, the deadline for signatures for the House letter is Tuesday, March 17th at 5:00pm. ET and the deadline for the Senate letter is Monday, March 23rd at 5:00pm.
 
How to Contact your Members of Congress
 
If you have a personal contact in your member’s Washington D.C. or District/State office, contact that person directly. If they do not handle Interior Appropriations please ask that they pass the message along to the Interior Appropriations staffer.
 
If you don’t have a personal contact you can call the representative’s DC office and ask to speak with the Interior Appropriations staffer or email your message through the “Contact” section of the member’s website. If you are emailing through the Member’s website please select “Environment” in the Message Subject drop-down menu.
 
Reach out and let them know who you are and why historic preservation is important to you. Ask your Representative or Senators to sign-on to the FY21 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter, being circulated by Representatives Turner and Blumenauer in the House or Senators Cassidy and Gillibrand in the Senate. Below is a sample message to send to your Members of Congress that you can make your own and include local examples from their district or state. Representatives can sign-on by contacting Jon Bosworth in Rep. Blumenauer’s office or Dan Hare in Rep. Turner’s office. Senators can sign-on by contacting Ron Anderson in Sen. Cassidy’s office and Caitlin Rooney in Sen. Gillibrand’s office. The deadline for signatures is Tuesday, March 17th at 5pm ET for the House letter and Monday, March 23rd at 5pm ET for the Senate letter.
 

FY21 House HPF Letter Signers

FY21 House HPF Dear Colleague Letter

Find Your Senators

FY21 Senate HPF Dear Colleague Letter

Sample Letter to Your Senators
 
“I request that you sign-on to the FY21 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague letter being circulated by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), in support of funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. The requested amount supports the important work of State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers to administer the federal historic preservation program and continues to support competitive grant programs that are helping preserve the sites and stories of underrepresented communities, revitalize historic buildings in rural communities, and helping to preserve nationally significant properties and collections that help to tell America’s rich history.
 
The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) uses non-tax payer dollars to partner with States and Tribes to help save important places in your community and brings local voices to federal decision-making. Adequate funding for the HPF is essential for recognizing, preserving and utilizing our Nation’s historic resources for all Americans”