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!
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