Legislative Update: Key Preservation Priorities on the Hill

Good afternoon, everybody. We are going to get started in just a minute uh while we populate the room. Thanks for joining today. Welcome everybody. Good to see folks jumping on. We're going to get started in just a minute. In the meantime, let us know where you're zooming in from in the chat. Always an inspiring thing to see uh people dialing in from all corners of the country. We're going to get started in just a minute here. Uh let the room populate. Thank you. >> Okay, I think we are starting to see the numbers slow a bit. So, why don't we get started? Uh good afternoon, everybody, and happy Constitution Day. And thank you for joining us. Welcome back to Forum our Forum webinar series. My name is Shaw Sprague, and I'm the vice president of government relations at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Uh we are very excited for next week's National Preservation Summit, and we look forward to seeing many of you in Washington, D.C. The summit is going to be an extraordinary convening of preservation leaders for an inspiring few days of programming, leadership, and advocacy. Today's webinar is legislative update, key preservation priorities on the Hill. And it's really designed with the purpose of equipping National Preservation Summit Advocacy Day participants to have the latest information before their meetings on Capitol Hill. Uh and we also wanted today's call to serve as a timely briefing for everyone else who is not coming to Washington, D.C., but is interested in the current state of preservation policy in Washington. Uh as a reminder, Preservation Leadership Forum is the professional program of the National Trust, and this webinar series is made possible by members of the Preservation Leadership Forum. And as always, we thank those of you who are with us today. Uh before we begin, I have a four logistical points to cover. Uh we will take questions from the audience during the webinar. Please send questions via the Q&A function directly to the panelists. Uh you are welcome to submit at any point during the webinar, but uh we will be waiting until the Q&A section to answer questions. You are also encouraged to communicate to all participants through the chat function. The closed captioning function is enabled for this webinar. You uh can enable it and disable either through the controls at the bottom of your Zoom screen or through your audio settings. Following the program, we'll send out a recording of today's webinar directly to the email you used to register. And finally, all form webinars are uh available on our YouTube channel. Uh and as a final reminder, we ask that everyone is respectful to each other in the chat and to follow our code of conduct. Uh so with that, uh we are again incredibly grateful for everybody's time and enthusiasm and commitment to advocating in support of preservation policies. And in particular, we want to acknowledge and thank those of you who are new to advocacy that are joining us uh for Hill meetings for the first time or even those of you who are setting up Hill meetings. Thank you. Um we uh really appreciate you're joining us and hope uh all the preparation and work with our team uh is uh good preparation for for next week. Uh next slide, please. So I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce my government relations colleagues who will be co-presenting on today's webinar. Joining me will be our senior director of government relations, Pam Bowman, and our director of government relations, Laura Cohen. We're going to cover tips for successful advocacy and what to expect from our day on the hill and in your meetings. We will then describe the specific policy asks and what we are hoping to achieve for the remainder of the 119th Congress. And as I mentioned, we will conclude with a Q&A section and try to get through your questions that that you might have. Uh next slide, please. Thank you. First, however, I did want to note that Brent Leggs was hoping to join us for today's webinar, but unfortunately, he did have a conflict uh at this time, but he asked that I share the following message with you all ahead of our advocacy day. Uh at the National Trust, we believe that anyone can be a preservationist. No matter where you are in the country, it is critical for all of us to make our voices heard and protect our nation's tangible heritage. At a moment when historic sites and the tools like Section 106 that protect them face real challenges, your conversations with members of Congress do make a difference. Thank you for showing up, making the case, and helping ensure that our shared history can help build a brighter future for America. Uh and with that, what let's get into the substance of today's webinar. My colleague Lauren Cohen will cover tips for successful advocacy. Over to you, Lauren. >> Thank you very much, Shaw. Hi, everyone. My name is Lauren Cohen. Uh it's great to be with you today, and if uh if you are joining us in Washington, D.C. next week on September 24th, uh or even if you're not and you are thinking about uh advocating um in back home in the district or at the state level, uh these act will serve you very well either way. Um So, uh let's just go breaking down what a meeting looks like. So, on Capitol Hill, uh when you are visiting these offices, oftentimes you're meeting with with congressional staff. Um sometimes you are able to meet with uh the member of Congress uh or uh the or the United States Senator themselves. Um but most of the time you're meeting with congressional staff. And I will say um Shaw, Pam, and I are all former congressional staffers, and we can all say that meeting with congressional staff is a very, very valuable way to spend your time. Um these staff are looking to you to make them an instant expert in uh in whatever you're there to talk about. So, when you're there talking about historic preservation priorities and you're meeting with these staffers, uh they really are wanting to dig in and understand why historic preservation is vital to the communities that you live in, vital to the communities that their bosses serve. Um so, when you when you are meeting with these staffers, know that you are in very good hands, and they genuinely want to learn and uh know more about the issues. The meeting this The meetings themselves will usually last about 20 minutes. Um So, before the meeting, it's important to do your research. Make sure you know who you're speaking with before you go into the meeting, and also know uh the committees that the member of Congress serves on. So, if you're meeting with a congressional staffer whose boss serves on the uh House Ways and Means Committee, uh then that should signal to you that that would be a really good office to talk about the historic tax credit with because the House Ways and Means Committee is the tax-writing committee for the House. So, that you know, that's a good excuse, a good reason for you to spend a bulk of your time talking about the historic tax credit and why that's so important. Um so, doing some research about the members of Congress that you are meeting with, knowing what committees they serve on, uh will set your meeting up for success because you're going to be able to direct your comments in a way that's especially applicable to the work that they do in Congress. If you have any questions about that, uh my colleagues and I would be very happy to um help you flesh out what that looks like. Also, uh before the meeting, make a plan with your team. If you are going around Capitol Hill or in any other advocacy setting, uh and you have other folks joining you in that meeting, uh make a plan about who is going to talk about what, who is going to give some data points, who's going to tell um authentic story about the work that you're doing in your community, and very importantly, who is going to come in and make that congressional ask. So, go in with a plan of who is going to say what. During the meeting, uh I encourage you, as I mentioned, this is probably only going to be about a 20-minute meeting. Um so, move efficiently through your introductions and the materials that you're bringing into the meeting. Uh don't spend too much time on uh personal introductions, just give your name, your organization, and the city where you live, and move right along. Um you don't want to spend too much time um getting into uh into those personal introductions. Um and then also, uh specifically for our advocacy day next week, uh on September 24th, uh our team is preparing uh meeting packets for you to take into each of your congressional meetings, uh that will have one-pagers, and um we will share those one-pagers with you uh in the rest of this webinar, um but it'll have printed one-pagers for you to take into those meetings that you can use during the meeting to point things out to the staffers you're meeting with and then leave those packets with the staffers. So, move efficiently through those introductions, but also the materials that you're bringing as well. I always like to start meetings advocacy meetings by asking a question just diving in with a with a firehose of information. So, a great thing to say is, "How much do you know about historic preservation?" It's a really easy question to ask. Or, for instance, the example I gave before, if you know that they the member of Congress serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and you're wanting to direct the conversation to one about the historic tax credit, you can say, "Tell me what you know about the historic tax credit. Are you familiar with it?" So, starting with a question is a nice easy way to start your meeting. I also like to discourage advocates from using the acronyms that many of us use all the time. It becomes a second-hand language for us to use and throw around a lot of acronyms in our work, but remember many of these congressional staffers have very little knowledge about the the deep intricacies and inner workings of the historic preservation field. Even if they do have some knowledge about it, some of these acronyms can get a little over their heads. So, try to avoid that. But, above all, be polite, professional, and knowledgeable. You want to become a trusted resource for these congressional offices that when they have a question about section, when they have a question about regulations or permitting reform, that they can come to you and turn to you and say, "You know what? I had a great meeting with them when they were in Washington, D.C. in September and I know that they're going to give me some information that will be really helpful." So, um make sure that you are being polite, professional, and knowledgeable. And knowledgeable doesn't mean that you have to know everything. Uh it um if they ask you a question that you don't know the answer to, it is okay to say, "You know what? That's a great question. I will get the answer for you." And then you can follow up in an email and continue your conversation there. Uh also, end the meeting by making your advocacy ask. I can't tell you how many times I have seen uh advocates, even the most seasoned advocates, uh be in a meeting and it's going really well, and then they say, "Well, thank you for your time." And then they head out, and they didn't make the advocacy ask. That just means had a pleasant conversation and didn't ask anything of these offices. There is uh there's nothing to be afraid of in making that ask. This is what this exchange is all about. It's building that relationship, but these offices need to know what the field needs. So, that's what your job is is to go in and make that advocacy ask. And um as you pay attention through this webinar, um Shah Pam and I will be very explicit about what our ask is uh for each of these issue areas. And then real quickly, after the meeting, um after you exit the meeting, you may want to take a a quick photo like um you see folks here have done in previous meetings on Capitol Hill. Um so, that's always nice to have, but um also make quick notes to remind yourself about details that came up during the meeting, uh what you talked about, any specific projects you mentioned in their bosses' district, any questions that that staffer had, or concerns they may have had about a piece of legislation. Just take a quick note to remind yourself. And then later, definitely send a thank you email to the staffers that you met with. Uh and reference some of the points that you brought up in the meeting. Um if you have any uh anything that you need to relay to uh Shaw, Ham, or I, or any of the other folks at the National Trust that came up uh during that meeting, uh concerns that a staffer had, or even positive feedback, um definitely let us know that as well, so we can follow up with those staffers. Next slide, please. And then, just really quickly, this is a formula I love to share with um with advocates uh who are advocating at every level, federal, state, local, hyper-local. This is just a good formula for advocacy. Um compelling data plus effective storytelling and a clear ask is advocacy for policy change. So, if you can have these three components in the meetings that you're going to have on Capitol Hill next week, or meetings you may be having at home, um this is a really good formula. That doesn't mean that uh what you ask for happens every single time, but this is a great way to make yourself that reliable and trusted resource, and make sure that you're building the relationship with that uh with that decision-maker's office. So, um as I mentioned, we are going to go through our issue areas for um for what we're seeing for the rest of the 119th Congress. Uh that's through the end of this calendar year. Um and we will be very clear about what these asks are, so you are prepared to make those asks when you go to Capitol Hill. And now I will pass it off. >> Great. Thank you, Lauren. Uh I think we're missing a slide there. Um well, uh yeah, next slide, please. Um Previous one is is is perfect. Thank you. Uh so, we wanted to begin today's policy overview with the preservation community's most pressing issue, which is the proposed dismantling of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 regulations by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. We are asking advocates to prioritize this issue in your meetings on the hill next week. And Lauren laid out the importance of committee uh membership, but uh this issue is our most pressing and and really should be at the top of the agenda for your meetings. Uh if you're less familiar with this issue, we want to encourage you to visit our website, which is savingplaces.org/section106. Uh from this landing page, you'll find uh a number of past webinars that we've been doing throughout the summer, background information, and advocacy materials to learn more about this issue. Um but in short, Section 106 of the NHPA represents the cornerstone of how we protect our nation's historic resources. Section 106 requires federal agencies to identify, consider, and seek to resolve adverse effects on historic properties before an undertaking has has occurred that may affect those properties. We have several significant concerns with the ACHP's efforts to amend the current Section 106 regulations, and these include federal agencies will no longer be required to try to avoid or minimize damage to America's historic architecture, neighborhoods, and landscapes. It's a fundamental shift. State and local governments will no longer have the right to be notified or have the opportunity to comment when federal agencies propose to damage or destroy historic properties within their jurisdictions. The public's opportunity to comment on federal historic preservation policies or actions would become entirely optional at the discretion of the federal agency. The federal government will no longer be required to consult with tribal communities or seek their expertise regarding their own significant cultural resources. And important cultural landscapes features would no longer be considered historic properties. So, federal agencies would no longer be required to take into account any adverse effects to significant places, places like the Grand Canyon. Really a dramatic shift in the way we would approach protections for historic properties. >> [gasps] >> One of the more significant challenges that we face on the hill is that many staff, like Lauren mentioned, are simply not intimately familiar with the National Historic Preservation Act or the Section 106 process. There are a number of misconceptions about how the Section 106 process works. And um and how you know, so it's important that we are educating these these staff. So, what we what you will have in your advocacy materials for next week is a myth versus fact one-pager that will include uh critiques that we've heard and how we recommending we address them. Critiques like Section 106 is overly burdensome. In fact, 98% of reviews of fine projects that do not have an adverse effect on historic resources. Section 106 reviews take too long. SHPOs, THPOs, and the public have short comment deadlines, 30 days uh that ensure the process moves efficiently and quickly. And it's worth noting that federal agencies are the entities that do not have a similar uh uh com deadline to to work with during the process. Section 106 reviews are delayed uh because of preservation concerns. The fact is that delays primarily result from incomplete project applications, poor project planning, understaffed federal agencies, and unrelated permitting requirements. And and lastly, uh another another misperception that we we uh know is out there is adopting the proposed Section 106 changes would help cut red tape. And the fact is that if the proposed changes are adopted, federal agencies would end up reviewing projects without the benefit of state, local, and tribal preservation expertise. Uh preservation is a ground-up uh endeavor, and this proposed regulation would cut out a lot of that important expertise. Uh next slide, please. Uh we also wanted to highlight a new resource on our website. The Trust has developed an interactive map of the country where you can enter your uh the state that you would like to review from a drop-down menu and see what Section 106 uh examples are available. These are stories that demonstrate how Section 106 consultations have led to better outcomes uh that help preserve historic resources while allowing projects to proceed. Sharing success stories and these specific examples about how Section 106 consultation had a positive impact in your state is is really a great way to help uh them understand and remember uh the value of this law. Um it's the importance of storytelling. It really helps to make the point sink in. We would encourage you to review the success stories in your state before your meetings on the hill. And we would also ask that, uh, if you have a story that we are constantly updating this webpage. So, if you have additional, uh, success stories, we would like to include them here. Next slide, please. We also wanted to highlight something that, uh, is, uh, an important development this week. And in fact, today there is a, uh, a letter that is currently circulating in the house. This letter is being led by a bipartisan group of preservation champions, which includes Representative Sharice Davids, Democrat of Kansas, Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, Teresa Leger Fernandez, uh, Democrat of New Mexico, uh, Sharice Turner, and Congresswoman Leger Fernandez are co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus. So, we appreciate their leadership. Uh, Brian Fitzpatrick, uh, Republican of Pennsylvania, Mike Tonko, Democrat of New York, and Mike Lawler, Republican of New York. So, we're very grateful for their leadership. Uh, it is a letter that is addressed to the Vice Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, uh, and it recommends that ACHP reconsider its regulatory rulemaking and work with Congress to enact bipartisan sustainable reforms to the National Historic Preservation Act that protects our nation's history. So, for all of your meetings in the house, this will be your primary ask in support of Section 106. Uh, we want to encourage as many members to, uh, join this letter, uh, and for ACHP to essentially start over. We anticipate a similar letter could be developed in the Senate in the coming days and weeks and we'll keep you informed about any such development. Including the possibility of that this letter becomes a bicameral letter, but for now the ask of your senators on section 106 is for them to weigh in with the ACHP and voice their concern about the loss of community input in protecting historic and culturally significant places. And for those of you that are on the webinar who are not joining us for lobby day, this is an ask that you too can make of your congressional delegation, particularly your house delegation. Encourage them uh to to sign the letter. Now I think I'll be turning it over to Pam for the next few slides. >> Shaw and hi everyone. Today we also wanted to cover efforts by Congress to address permitting reform, which is closely related and has overlap with some of the section 106 topics that Shaw just discussed. And just as a brief overview, as a preservation policy issue, this broadly refers to the federal permitting process for a wide range of projects. And this can be anything from pipeline construction or highway projects to oil and gas development and beyond. And these projects have the potential to impact historic resources. So this is why the National Trust and our partners are closely following legislative proposals and committee activity that would open up the possibility for changes to the NHPA and the section 106 process. Permitting reform has emerged as a high priority bipartisan issue as Congress has been exploring ways to expedite non-renewable and renewable energy projects nationwide. Even just in the last Congress, between 2023 and 2024, we saw over 20 bills on this issue be introduced, and that momentum continued into the current Congress with even more members of Congress putting forward their ideas. And just about 1 year ago, last October, many of you may have read about the Senate and Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, which focused on NHPA and the Section 106 process. This became kind of the kickoff for a several-week stretch of sustained interest by Congress in all of these issues, and it was really a highly significant hearing doing due to it really being the first time in many years where Congress had dedicated a full hearing to examining some of these topics, and connecting it quite closely with the issues happening in permitting reform. So, we do know from our outreach on the Hill and numerous reports in the media that congressional staff of key committees, particularly in the Senate, have been hard at work to develop a bipartisan legislative proposal to address permitting reform. And at several times earlier this year, it appeared possible that a draft or full bill bill text would be released by the Senate leaders, but that did not happen prior to the August recess last month. And so, with the Senate not returning to session until this week, and the midterms rapidly approaching, it's likely we won't see this legislative proposal before Advocacy Day next week. But, in the event that we do, we will do our best to have updated information available for you at the breakfast briefing next week for Advocacy Day. And even without us seeing this specific language or knowing the exact timing, we do know that this is coming. Even if there are no new developments this year, the bipartisan interest will remain, and the issue is likely to resurface in the next Congress. So, the preservation community has been using this time to educate Hill staff and share our views. And at the National Trust, we have been deeply engaged on this issue, leading dozens of Hill meetings with Senate and House offices and senior staff to share our perspectives and the things we hope Congress will consider as they tackle permitting reform legislation in the next few weeks and months. So, this policy topic is a slightly different than some of the other issues we're highlighting today. Um best practice for Hill meetings is definitely to have a clear ask, but in this case, we don't have a bill number or specific language from this anticipated proposal. But, we have seen a number of key themes emerge from congressional hearings and previous bills that give us some idea of what Congress is examining and hoping to address. Um many of these themes address how preservation intersects with federal permitting. And this is in terms of efficiencies, the role of public participation, uh coordination between agencies. There's been criticisms of lengthy review processes that may delay infrastructure and energy projects. Um but also the need for adequate consultation with tribal nations and local communities. Uh and also the recognition that adequate staffing and resources are essential in order to efficiently process permits and uphold preservation standards. So, one suggestion for your advocacy day Hill meetings next week, if this topic is discussed, is first to share the Section 106 one-pager, and you'll get an idea of what that looks like here on your screen. Um this resource will allow you to cover more than one topic related to Section 106. At the top, you'll see some background and talking points on the proposed ACHP regulations. In the blue box at the bottom, we've called out some of the key considerations and priorities as Congress works on permanent reform. So, this is really your key ask here to talk about what we would like to see and what's important to the preservation community. And again, this document will be in all of your meeting folders next week and we'll also be putting it on the website for folks to use if you won't be joining us next week. And second, is really in these meetings to personalize this conversation with examples. And Shawn mentioned the Section 106 success stories. Sharing these examples with congressional staff really help demonstrate how the process has worked to save and preserve historic resources. And sharing data that's specific to their states and districts is particularly well received by hill staff. It provides them really the local context for buildings and other resources from the communities that they represent. And finally, in these meetings, you can also address some of the themes that I mentioned. We know that Congress is examining these areas and we all can play a role here in offering suggestions and approaches for what we like to see. So, for example, Congress has looked at the permanent reform process and ways to improve agency coordination. So, raising suggestions like identifying a lead agency for the process can help demonstrate we've been thinking about reforms and providing a solutions-oriented viewpoint. And if issues are raised within the theme of efficiencies or even streamlining the timelines for review of these projects, you can mention to staffers that adequate funding for state historic preservation officers and tribal historic preservation officers needs to be taken into consideration to ensure successful execution of these reviews. The same URL on this slide is also listed on the one-pager, so that's a comprehensive page you can direct Hill staff to uh to get a wide variety of resources on Section 106. So, please be sure to highlight that in your meetings. Um next slide, please. We also wanted to call your attention to a couple pieces of priority legislation that the National Trust has been deeply engaged with and where the House and Senate have taken action very recently. We are thrilled and very encouraged that two of the key committees with jurisdiction over bills uh in the preservation space have moved forward uh on two issues in July and September where we have an opportunity to get legislative wins in this Congress. There's been successful subcommittee hearings and full committee markups for these two bills in and that's a significant milestone since many of you are aware the vast majority of legislation introduced in Congress never makes it to this stage in the process. And while we don't know yet how the lame duck session after the midterm elections will shake out, this really is a critical advocacy window for us to make sure we let Congress know how important it is to pass these bills this year. The first one is the African American Civil Rights Network legislation and this would um reauthorize a program that expired in January of 2025. This is a National Park Service program um which is a voluntary national network of sites, activities, and research that commemorate, honor, and interpret the history of the modern Civil Rights Movement. And it's had a subcommittee hearing in both the House and Senate in the last few weeks and just 2 days ago on Tuesday the House Natural Resource Committee passed the bill unanimously, making this eligible for consideration on the house floor. So, as part of your meetings, please utilize this ask and ask members to co-sponsor and support the legislation and make sure you also let them know that this is bipartisan and bicameral and supported by a number of different states across the country. The second bill is legislation that would designate Route 66 as a national historic trail and as many of you know, this year marks the centennial year for Route 66 and this designation would be the perfect 100th birthday present for this amazing roadway. This legislation is also bipartisan and bicameral and in the house we've secured support from members of Congress in all eight Route 66 states. And similar to the African American Civil Rights Network bill, the house and senate subcommittees have both held successful hearings and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has passed the bill unanimously and it's ready for the Senate floor. So, for advocacy day next week, any state teams are welcome to ask support for the Route 66 bill, but particularly if you're from the eight states listed on this slide. And again, the ask is for supporting and co-sponsoring the legislation. So, for both of these bills, make this a part of your research for next week as Lauren was talking about in the tips for advocacy. You can go to congress.gov and type [clears throat] in the bill numbers to find out whether your members of Congress are already joined and if they haven't, that's your ask. But, if your elected officials are already co-sponsors, make sure you express the urgency for getting both of these done this year. As the slide notes, the African American Civil Rights Network bill expired that program expired in January of 2025 and for Route 66, we would love to get this done in the year of the centennial. Um, will stop there so that we can move on to a couple other pieces of legislation for next week. >> Great, thank you. And excuse me. So, we're going to just hop into a discussion about uh the asks for the Historic Preservation Fund. Um, as many of you will know, the HPF is the backbone of the funding that the federal government provides um for historic preservation uh initiatives and priorities uh in the country. So, this supports state historic preservation officers, tribal historic preservation officers, and many competitive grant programs. So, you'll see here uh this is the one-pager for the Historic Preservation Fund that will be in your packets uh to hand out to offices. Uh so, the update here for uh annual funding for the Historic Preservation Fund uh in fiscal year 2027 appropriations, uh which fiscal year 2027 officially starts on October 1st. However, um Congress uh has passed a continuing resolution that extends current uh fiscal year 2026 funding through December 10th. Had they not uh gotten this continuing resolution passed in time, we would have been looking at another government shutdown. And I know all of you will remember last year's 42-day, longest in US history, government shutdown. Uh but we have thankfully avoided that situation this year. So, the continuing resolution uh will go through December 10th, again maintaining the fiscal year 2026 enacted funding. That enacted funding for the Historic Preservation Fund uh is right now at $181 million, just over $181 million um for all of those components uh therein of the Historic preservation fund. So, uh the legislative activity that's happened this year, uh you know, at preparing for fiscal year 2027, the House, uh the US House passed their version of the bill, um that clocked the HPF in at um $163.65 million for the HPF for fiscal year 2027. And actually, the US Senate didn't even get a number out. So, um you also may remember that uh at the beginning of appropriation season each year, uh the president of the administration released their budget request, which is what they think funding levels should be, but it's important to remember that it's Congress that appropriates uh dollars for the federal government, not the administration. stration, um every administration always releases a budget request. Um and for fiscal year 2027, the president's budget request included only $11 million for tion fund. So, that was a near elimination, a near gutting of the uh HPF, but we have seen uh time and again that Congress um rejects this call to um to eliminate the HPF um and continues to appropriate uh for it. So, um so that's kind of where we sit in this timeline right now. So, next week when you're on Capitol Hill and you are making an ask for funding for the HPF, our ask is going to continue to be what it has been uh since uh the beginning of appropriation season back in the spring, which is uh for $250 million for the historic preservation fund. Um many of the uh historic preservation uh organizations joined together in a campaign for 250 for 250, 250 million for the 250th anniversary um of the founding of the United States. So, um you know, when you're making this ask, lean into the fact that more robust funding for the HPF means more SHPO TPO and grant funding capacity. And this directly correlates to Section 106 efficiently and more data and digit- digitization and surveys, all those kinds of things. Bring that into the conversations that you're having about why uh this funding level is so critical. Additionally, with the Historic Preservation Fund, we'll move over to the authorization for the program. Every program uh needs to be reauthorized every so often. You just heard about how the authorization for the African American Civil Rights Network uh expired last January. Um Congress likes to uh reauthorize programs every 5, 7, 10 years, something like that. Um so, the the authorization for the Historic Preservation Fund actually expired in September 2023, but it has been given 1-year extensions in each uh funding bill, each appropriations bill since then. Um so, we've had 1-year extensions, but we we need to have a full reauthorization of this program. Uh so, the ask there is uh for members in the House to cosponsor the Historic Preservation Fund Reauthorization Act. Uh we're up to about 40 bipartisan cosponsors on that piece of legislation in the House. There is not a corresponding Senate bill. Um so, it's just something to flag for when you're having meetings on the Senate side, but for the House side, the ask there is uh to cosponsor that legislation. And I'll pass it to Shaw to talk about uh the Historic Tax Credit. >> Great. Thank you, Lauren. So, another key policy priority is improving the federal historic tax credit. Uh the historic tax credit, uh as you've heard us mention many times before, is the most significant financial investment the federal government makes to preserve nationally significant historic buildings. Since 1981, the historic tax credit has leveraged $235 billion in private investment, created more than 3.2 million jobs, and preserved more than 49,000 historic buildings nationwide. Uh the incentive creates jobs, revitalizes communities, and supports small business growth. Uh it's a particularly and incredibly important link between historic preservation and economic development. So, we we do encourage you to um make sure you're up to speed on how the uh tax credit projects in your state uh recent projects, recent ribbon cuttings, has have those members been uh visited a historic tax credit project recently? Uh but despite all this success, uh the value of the incentive has declined in recent years. The high cost of construction, changes to the way the credit is awarded from basically a single year credit to a five is spread out over five years, uh as well as the level of expertise that's uh required to complete uh a certified historic reha- rehabilitation project, uh has decreased the value uh the investment value of the credit in recent years. So, to address this decline, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Congressman LaHood of Illinois, and Congressman Suozzi of New York uh have introduced the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act. Um, this would make several improvements to the credit. Uh, primary among them, it would return the credit delivery to a single year instead of spread out. That would be a pre-2017 uh, change back to the pre-2017 structure. Uh, it would also lower the uh, repair limit. Um, with the substantial rehab test essentially, which cuts uh, the required building um, repair threshold from 100% to 50% of a project's uh, value, making more older buildings eligible. It would also increase the value for small projects. Would boost the tax credit from 20 to 30% for small projects and for rural uh, uh, developments as well. Uh, it would also uh, remove the basis rule. Uh, eliminating the basis adjustment requirement will better align this credit with uh, other housing tax credits and simplify financing. And lastly, it provides help for uh, nonprofits. It makes it easier for nonprofit entities to partner with developers on community projects. Uh, and a and and address some of those white elephant projects in in your downtowns. So, if you are meeting with a member of Congress that sits on finance or ways and means, be sure to know that. Uh, that will be a you know, this this bill will be of particular interest to to them. Uh, currently co-sponsors, there are 11 Republicans, 37 Democrats on the House bill. Uh, and six Republicans and six Democrats uh, and one independent on the on the Senate side. On the Senate side, they are adding uh, co-sponsors in what they call a Noah's Ark format. So, um if um they do it in a bipartisan way. Uh um so, uh it's very important that we can get Republican senators on board here because we know that there are a number of Democrat senators that are waiting to jump on. Uh so, that lays out a bit of the task ahead there. Uh that's HR 2941 and S 1459. Uh so, we do want to move quickly to our next section which uh oh, logistics, right? Back over to Lauren and then over to Q&A. >> Great, thank you. Yeah, before we get to your questions of which I um have seen a few come in and and we are trying to answer them off to the side as well. Um but just want to give you some logistics for those of you who will be here next week in Washington, D.C. for the advocacy day on September 24th, um the general schedule for that day is uh we'll start the day with a briefing breakfast. Um this will be at a historic uh beautifully historic uh church on Capitol Hill. Um you see that marked with a yellow star kind of off to the right of the map that you're looking at. Um this is St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. It is at 301 A Street Southeast. Um if you are not very familiar with Washington, D.C. um the city is laid out in four quadrants. So, making sure that you list the quadrant if you are uh taking a ride share or something like that uh is very very important. So, 301 A Street Southeast. Um so, we will start with a briefing at 7:30 um and you'll be able to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel and we uh Shaw Ham and I will basically uh do a a shortened version of this webinar. So we'll compact everything that we've talked about in our time here today into about 20 minutes just going over those those legislative asks one more time with you and going over meeting tips, things like that. We'll compress that into a really bite-size little breakfast briefing. And you'll be able to spend time meeting with other advocates in your state or territory delegation. I'm really pleased to report that we states and three territories and the District of Columbia joining us for advocacy day next week. So we've got lots of folks who may be meeting for the first time in their state delegations. So you will have time to sit down with those folks in your state delegations, go through the meeting materials that we're preparing for you and get your game plan. Figure out who's going to share that data, who's going to share the stories, who's going to make the ask, that kind of stuff. So you'll be able to do all that at the breakfast briefing. And the reason why we chose this historic this historic building to start our day is because it is a very quick walk to the House and Senate office building. So you see those outlined there in orange. The House office buildings, there are three House office buildings, they are outlined in orange kind of on the bottom of this map. And the Senate office buildings, of which there are also three, are outlined in orange kind of at the top of the map. So So that's where you're going to be spending your time during the day with those congressional meetings that your state captains have been setting up. And then at the end of the day we will all come together at 5:00 p.m. for a congressional reception in the Dirksen Senate office building and you'll see that star there in purple. And fortuitously our reception room is actually room 106 after a day talking about section 106 advocacy. So, I think that that's that's pretty fitting. But, we'll come together to celebrate a day of advocacy. We will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the National Trust Advisors and and we'll just celebrate you, the advocates who are coming to Washington. Just a couple of tips. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes. This is quite a bit of walking. And also, I just checked the weather. Looks like we're looking at about 71° and rainy for our advocacy day. So, please plan accordingly for that. Bring your business cards if you've got them so you can stay in touch with congressional staff that you meet and other advocates that you meet. Also, prepare for security screening. So, going into House and Senate office buildings kind of like going through security at the airport, but you get to keep your shoes on. So, be sure to leave any prohibited items at home. Don't bring those to the capital and I certainly would not recommend bringing any suitcases or luggage or anything like that. That's just going to slow you down. So, try to travel as light as possible for our day on the hill. You're you're not going to want to be lugging too much stuff around, especially if it's raining all day. But, we are going to have a wonderful day together and and we can't wait to see you all at the briefing breakfast to kick us off. So, now I think we are going to turn our last bit of time to answering questions. >> Great. And we're seeing a lot of questions come in. So, we will try to get through as many as we can. I'm just going to start off with uh a few answers to questions on the uh uh house dear colleague letter that is currently circulating. We received a number of questions around that, so I'll just provide some additional detail. Um there was a question about how you all can join that letter. So, this is a letter that is uh is for members of Congress to sign, members of the house to sign only, not for uh preservationists to sign. But, there are a number of organizations um particularly uh cultural heritage partners that do have uh a preservation stakeholder national sign-on letter. It's an open letter to Congress. We got an update on that letter today. There are more than 700 signatories. Uh if you haven't added your organization's name to that letter, that is a way to have your voice heard. They are trying to reach a thousand signatories in the near future. Uh The letter um the letter is also uh currently circulating with There's a state lead that we've been working with in in the states, a Section 106 state lead that has received the update, and they have the letters. That's uh pres- uh most often your state uh statewide preservation organization. So, check in there to find a copy of the letter. Um And where do you find a list of the current cosigners? That is not always so simple. That is information that we basically need to obtain from the sponsor of the of the letter. Uh we will ant- we anticipate getting updates from time to time, but we don't have immediate access to that, but we should have an update for you uh for our breakfast briefing there. Um and now perhaps a question to uh Pam um asking about members who may be already supportive of all these priorities, what what do you advocates convey to congressional offices that do seem either on board or supportive of all our asks? How can they How can they make the most of that meeting? >> Yeah, that's a really good question. You'll often be in offices where they've co-sponsored most of the bills you're asking about, they're a strong supporter, but there's still a lot of asks and things you can discuss in the meeting. And I'd always start with a thank you and acknowledgement of that support because staffers are getting numerous requests for supporting different pieces of legislation and they may just not recall the history of that support. And when you what you can add to that thank you also is sharing any updated information on the issue either since when you last met with that office or something that might have been very recent that might have been overlooked. For example, the African-American Civil Rights Network bill that I mentioned, the staffers just may not be aware that 48 hours ago there was action in the house. And so sometimes you can provide some really good information and background to the staffer that can help them as the issue moves forward. And be sure to think about if there's been an element of urgency that's arisen since the last time you spoke to them. For example, if there's a program that's expired or a deadline that needs to be met, often things change between now and the last time people have had a conversation about that issue. And that's a time when you can do things like ask them to contact the relevant committee or even someone in leadership that can help move that bill forward if there's a sticking point in the legislation or it needs to get a vote on the house floor. Um, and there's also going to be a lot of offices that want to add their name as a co-sponsor to the bill, but it's also an opportunity to cultivate that office to have an even deeper support for preservation beyond adding their name to that list. So, you can do things for example like make an ask about whether they'd be interested in doing a site visit back home in the district. Helping to have have them have a deeper connection to issues and places and can really give them kind of a visual impression and connection with the place. >> I Thank you, Pam. A couple questions. Um, where to find information on the number of Section 106 consultations that occur in your state. We encourage you to reach out to your state historic preservation office. They will have the best available data on the number of consultations and how those are resolved expeditiously. I do want to address a point that I've seen come up several times regarding the myth versus fact on the percentage of Section 106 cases that are resolved without finding of adverse effect. There is more nuance to that that will be on the one-pager that you receive. It's not that the process is unnecessary. The point is that the process is working efficiently. Time frame on the letter. We also know that the letter will be open through at least through the end of next week. So, you your your ask for members to get on the letter next week will still be timely and relevant. And uh, Pam, another question for you just on is there a uh, one-pager for the African American Civil Rights Network bill or where might folks find more information on that? >> Just a couple things that we can share with you on that piece of legislation. There is not a one-pager because um, it was uh, introduced pretty recently this summer um, and had a quick turnaround with committee action. I think it was very unexpected but good news that the bill's moving forward so quickly. So we don't have a physical piece of paper for you to hand out. What we do have is a copy of our press release that we issued um, up on our website and also an advocacy action that any of you can use whether you're attending next week or um, are back home in your states where you can send an automatic letter to members of Congress asking that they add their name as a co-sponsor on the bill. So we have a couple resources we can share with all of you um, where you can either direct congressional staff or take action um, before after advocacy day. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you for that. Um, a couple questions about what can Congress do about uh, the agency uh, regulatory process. Um, so as we have already seen um, members of Congress are already indicating their discontent. That's an important first step uh, in terms of what actually can be done uh, Congress would need to pass legislation and so I think as we're thinking about ways that Congress might assert its authority over these issues. We need to be thinking about it in terms of the legislative vehicles that um, are are advancing and and will pass this Congress. So that's one framing that we might provide there. Um there was another question about the number uh litigation and uh this concept of uh lawfare and how uh federal federal laws uh like National Historic Preservation Act lead to a significant amount of litigation. Uh that is another uh question that we have answered on the myth versus fact one-pager that you will have uh for advocacy day. But, the short answer is it's a very, very small number. I think the analogy that we use is is that it's more likely that you will get struck by lightning than likely to see a uh uh court case brought uh based on NHPA 106 claims. Um we are at time and so I did want to just briefly move our through our final slides. Um we would like you to save the date for October 19th. This is when the National Preservation Law Conference will happen uh in Washington, D.C. at the D.C. Bar, I'm presuming. Uh and uh this has been a really important and popular um uh convening to address uh the legal issues of the day in in preservation. Uh it's online, so if you can't make it to D.C., please join there uh online. Next slide, please. And we are at time. So, thank you. Again, uh we really appreciate folks for tuning in. We will be available. Send us questions uh that we didn't get to and just know that for folks that are coming to Washington, we will have our breakfast briefing where we can fine-tune your advocacy day, answer any last-minute questions, or or help you just generally get prepared. But, thank you everybody. We're excited for next week. We're excited to see you and excited to to hit the hill. Uh thanks everybody and have a great day.