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TheWeekInCongress.com (TM)

Week Ending December 8, 2006

S.1378 A bill to amend the National Historic Preservation Act to provide appropriation authorization and improve the operations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

The 1996 law this bill amends supports the US historic preservation efforts through the Historic Preservation Fund (The Fund) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (The Council). The Fund gives money as matching grants to States to organize and preserve historic resources. The Fund’s funding expired in 2005 and this bill extends it through 2015.

The Council, a Federal agency, administers the 1996 law and the Fund. Now 20 members, including heads of Federal agencies, elected State and local officials and private citizens the bill adds three Federal agency members bringing the total to 23 and raising the number necessary for a quorum to 12.

The bill also allows the State governor on the Council to appoint a delegate with full voting privileges. The Council as a whole is given the authority to seek administrative services to amend existing law from Federal or private entities rather than just the Department of Interior. The Council will also review Federal grant or assistance programs affecting historic places and would have the authority to enter into a cooperative agreement with any agency that administers a grant program and to participate in the development of grant criteria and in selecting grant recipients.

Finally the $4 million ceiling for taxpayer funding of the Council is removed and future donations are expected to increase to $6 million over the next five years. A yearly deposit to the Council of $150 million through 2015 for grants is reauthorized. The funds would come from receipts from oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf under a 1976 law.

“Annual deposits to the HPF have been at the $150 million level since 1980, but the amounts typically appropriated from the fund are substantially lower. CBO expects that more than doubling the size of the historic preservation program (from the recent appropriation level of a little over $70 million a year) would initially lead to delays in processing grants and in raising funds for nonfederal matching shares. As a result, outlays would likely lag behind appropriations significantly over the next few years,” The CBO concluded.

Sponsor:  Senator Jim Talent (MO)

Vote: Passed by voice vote House September 29, 2006. Passed Senate amended September 29, 2006. Senate amendments agreed to in the House December 9, 2006.

Cost to the taxpayers: “CBO estimates that implementing S. 1378 would cost about $500 million over the 2007-2011 period.”

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MORE INFORMATION

MORE ABOUT HISTORIC PRESERVATION FROM THE BILL REPORT

“Over the years, the Historic Preservation Fund has provided essential support to the State Historic Preservation Offices that operate the national program at the State level. Through the work of our partners in the States, we can cite significant achievements over the past year:

“The National Park Service approved 1,537 new listings, which include 46,619 properties, in the National Register of Historic Places. This brings the total number of National Register properties to 79,617 listings that include over 1.4 million properties.

“Jointly administered by the National Park Service and the Internal Revenue Service, and in partnership with the State Historic Preservation Officers, the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives resulted in the rehabilitation of over 1,200 historic properties listed in the National Register, creating over 15,000 new housing units and generating $3.8 billion in leveraged private investment--all during 2004. Since its inception in 1976, this tax incentives program has generated over $33 billion in historic preservation activity.

“In FY 2005, the Save America's Treasures (SAT) grant program awarded a total of 145 matching grants in 43 states and the District of Columbia totaling $29.5 million. 337 applications were received that totaled $134 million. The SAT program is administered by the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“Over the years, the Historic Preservation Fund authority has been a highly flexible authority for developing targeted grant programs that address the broad purposes of the National Historic Preservation Act. They include the grants to Indian Tribes to support Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and project grants to preserve America's native cultures; grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities to preserve significant campus buildings; the Save America's Treasures Grant Program for threatened nationally significant properties; and more recently, the Preserve America grant program for heritage tourism, including education, and economic revitalization. These grant programs not only preserve historic resources, they attract new economic investment.”

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