Category: Action

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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.

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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.

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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”

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Urge Your Senators to Cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act

Preservation Action, Action Alert
Urge Your Senators to Cosponsor the HTC-GO Act: October 17, 2019

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have introduced the Senate version of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (S. 2615, H.R 2825). Similar to the House version of the HTC-GO Act, the Senate legislation would bring more value to Historic Tax Credit projects, improve access to the credit, and encourage investment in smaller rehabilitation projects.

The HTC Growth and Opportunity Act would eliminate the tax credit basis adjustment, which decreases the value of the HTC. This change would make the HTC more in line with the other tax credit programs and help restore some of the value lost by changes made during tax reform. Additionally, the bill would increase the credit from 20% to 30% for projects under $2.5 million. This would make the credit more appealing and improve access for smaller projects. The House version of the bill is up to 50 cosponsors. 

Take Action 
 
Urge your Senators to cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (S. 2615) today! 
 
If you have a personal contact in your Senator’s Washington D.C or District office, contact that person directly. Ask them to cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act, S. 2615, introduced by Senators Cassidy, Cardin, Collins and Cantwell. Or you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator’s DC office.
 
You can also check out and share this easy to use tool from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to ask your Senators to cosponsor HTC-GO today!

Action Alert: Urge Your Senators to Cosponsor S. 2615 Today →



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Schedule a Meeting or Site Visit With Your Members of Congress During the August Recess

Preservation Action, Action Alert
Schedule a Site Visit During the August Recess: August 01, 2019

The House and Senate will be on recess from August 3rd to September 8th. Be sure to get your request in for an in-district meeting or site-visit! 

Preservation Action is urging our members and supporters to ramp up their advocacy efforts as Congress begins their summer recess. This is a critical time to reach out to your Representative and Senators and invite them to tour a Historic Tax Credit project in their district/state, or schedule a meeting. Congress is expected to consider several pieces of must-pass legislation in the Fall and we hope to insert provisions from the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R 2825) into larger, must-pass bills that address tax issues. The August recess is the best opportunity for lawmakers to see the incredible benefits of the Historic Tax Credit and potential benefits of the HTC-GO Act first-hand. Reach out to your members of Congress today!

Action Alert: August 01, 2019 →

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Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act

Preservation Action, Action Alert
Urge Your Rep to Cosponsor the HTC-GO Act: May 24, 2019

The Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R 2825) was introduced in the House and would make several changes to improve and enhance the Historic Tax Credit (HTC). The HTC was saved from elimination during last year’s tax reform efforts, but was altered, requiring the the tax credit be given over 5 years, reducing the overall value. This important legislation would help to restore some of the value lost from tax reform and improve access to the credit for smaller rehabilitation projects.The bipartisan bill was introduced by Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Terri Sewell (D-AL), and Mike Kelly (R-PA), along with original cosponsors Rep. Mike Turner(R-OH) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) This bill combines aspects of the HTC Improvement Act and HTC Enhancement Act, both of which were introduced in the 115th Congress. 

The HTC Growth and Opportunity Act would eliminate the tax credit basis adjustment, which decreases the value of the HTC. This change would make the HTC more in line with other tax credit programs and help restore some of the value lost by the changes made during tax reform. Additionally, the bill would increase the credit from 20% to 30% and allow for the transfer of credits as a tax certificate, for projects under $2.5 million. These changes would make the credit more appealing and improve access for smaller projects. H.R 2825 was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. 
 
Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Senate version of the HTC Growth and Opportunity Act (S. 2615) in October. Learn more and urge your Senators to cosponsor this important bill!
 
Take Action 
 
Urge your Representative to cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R 2825) today! If you have a personal contact in your member’s Washington D.C. or District office, contact that person directly. Ask them to cosponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act introduced by Representatives Blumenauer and LaHood in the House. You can also check out this easy to use tool from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to ask your member to cosponsor.

Action Alert: Urge Your Rep to Cosponsor HR2825 Today →