Important update and action items

[Harbeson, Kristen]

Dear Friends and Allies:

 

After the last exciting update there is a lot to report, and some critical action items, so hold onto your hats:

  

1)      CLEAR Act: As I reported last week, House Natural Resources committee Chairman, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), recently released a new discussion draft version of H.R.3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act (CLEAR Act) which among  other things, includes full and permanent funding for the Historic Preservation Fund ($150 million guaranteed annually until 2040). The legislation would also provide $900 million in full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.   We have also learned that there are environmental groups who are not happy the HPF is included as they wanted to keep all the money for their programs. Keeping the HPF provision in the bill is far from certain and we must aggressively continue our advocacy efforts.  We will be creating a press release for you to distribute broadly.

 

ACTION ITEM: Contact members on the Natural Resources Committee and voice support for the HPF provision before the bill goes to mark-up on July 14^th.  Make sure to use local examples on how preservation has helped your community. It is very possible that a committee member could offer or vote for an amendment to strike the HPF funding unless they hear support for the provision from people in their district/State.  A list of the members of the committee are found here: http://www.fullyfundhpf.org/home/house_natural_resources_committee

 

2)     America’s Great Outdoors Listening Session: We have received reports back from the listening sessions held to date in Montana, Maryland, South Carolina and Washington State.   As we suspected, by far the majority of attendees were from the natural resource conservation community and 95% (if not more) of the conversation involved natural resource interests.  The good news is that there have been healthy numbers of representatives from the historic preservation community present, and we’ve gotten feedback that the organizers are impressed by the input and passionate representation of the cultural resources community.

 

ACTION ITEM: It is IMPERATIVE that preservationists attend and speak-up for the HPF if at all possible.  Below is the latest list of meetings. Generally, meeting details and registration are not announced until a week or so before the event. We’ll pass along the info as soon as we receive it. Please consider attending and encourage others to as well!  Attached are talking points from NCSHPO and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which will also be available online here: http://www.fullyfundhpf.org/home/legislation

·       Los Angeles, CA - July 8 (confirmed)

·     Grand Island, NE - July 12 (confirmed)

·        Asheville, NC - July 15 (confirmed)

·        Denver, CO – July 16 (confirmed)

·        Philadelphia, PA - July 27 (confirmed)

·        Hudson River Valley, NY - July 29

·        Salt Lake City, UT - August 6

Thank you, as always , for all your work for historic preservation and your support of full funding for the Historic Preservation Fund.  Thanks to you, we’re gaining ground… no time to stop now!  Be sure to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Best,

Kristen

 

Kristen Harbeson, State Services Director | NCSHPO  | National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers |

444 N Capitol St NW  Suite 342 | Washington DC 20001-1512 | 202-624-5465 | 202-624-5419 fax | harb...@sso.org | www.ncshpo.org

 

Join the Coalition for Full Funding of the Historic Preservation Fund. visit the website at: www.fullyfundhpf.org