WASHINGTON, D.C. – In anticipation of the incoming Administration, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Chair Sara C. Bronin announced she would be stepping down from her position on the ACHP, effective December 31, 2024.

President Joe Biden nominated Chair Bronin to lead the ACHP, and she was confirmed by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2022. The ACHP was created by Congress in the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 and administers the Section 106 review process requiring federal agencies to assess the effects of their undertakings on historic properties. It also advises the President, Congress, and state and local governments on historic preservation policy.

“It has been an incredible honor to serve in the Biden-Harris Administration and to engage more people in understanding–and harnessing–the promise and the power of our nation’s historic preservation agency,” Chair Bronin said. “I want to thank fellow ACHP members for their partnership, creativity, and willingness to think beyond the status quo, and the ACHP staff, especially Executive Director Reid Nelson, for their capable execution of a large number of new initiatives. I look forward to seeing the ACHP and its next chair continue to assert a leadership role within and outside the federal government to fulfill the goals Congress set out in the NHPA, including by advancing common-sense permitting reforms and policies that facilitate progress while protecting America’s treasured places.”

When taking on the role as chair, Bronin said she aimed to position the ACHP to more effectively advance historic preservation while promoting housing development, informing climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, supporting Indigenous Peoples, and contributing to the creation of a more inclusive preservation movement.

Working with Executive Director Nelson, the ACHP staff, and fellow ACHP members, Chair Bronin worked to fulfill these aims during her 23-month tenure, taking the following actions, among others:

Clarifying and improving the federal Section 106 review process:
- Supported the adoption of the largest number of initiatives in ACHP history to expedite federal historic preservation reviews, while upholding preservation values.
- Initiated and led through ACHP adoption a government-wide streamlining measure–informed by more people than any other ACHP measure ever–that could accelerate reviews of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal investments in housing, energy efficiency, alternative transportation, and renewable energy.
- Initiated and led through ACHP adoption an exemption from Section 106 review for Indigenous Knowledge-informed activities of Native Hawaiian Organizations. 
- Amended and expanded the scope of a streamlining measure covering tens of billions of dollars of broadband projects which, for the first time in any ACHP program alternative, mandated financial compensation to Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations for providing certain assistance to agencies.
- Sought and secured more than $5 million from the Permitting Council–the ACHP’s largest-ever external investment–to create an integrated map of nonconfidential properties that federal agencies have found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. 

Establishing and influencing historic preservation policy:
- Led the ACHP through its adoption of four critically important policies–on housing, climate change,Indigenous Knowledge (unanimous), and burial sites and human remains (unanimous)–that will guide the ACHP’s work for years to come. 
- Established a formal mechanism to advise state legislatures and local governments and advised on issues related to building rehabilitation and climate resilience, among others.
- Testified at a congressional roundtable and further promoted a recommendation to create an ACHP climate heritage office.
- Developed and publicized a lengthy report regarding the need to update federal historic preservation standards to better promote building rehabilitations, the resiliency of historic places, and equitable treatment, including for reviews under the federal rehabilitation tax credit.

Building up ACHP operations and communications:
- Earned Permitting Council support to grow ACHP staff by nearly 20 percent, while strengthening the ACHP’s relationship with the Permitting Council by naming it an Observer to the ACHP.
- Welcomed the addition by President Biden of the Council on Environmental Quality as a new ACHP member.
- Led the ACHP through its adoption of amendments to its operating procedures and supported the ACHP’s agency-wide equity plan.
- Initiated three Housing and Historic Preservation Roundtables in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C, along with the “U.S. Climate Heritage Policy in the International Context” conference with Georgetown Law Center.
- Wrote 10 op-eds and two letters to the editor to engage the public on ACHP initiatives and positions.
- Secured multi-year funding for interns, directly supervised 29 “Chair’s interns” from 24 different colleges and universities, and hosted “Office Hours” for students from around 40 different colleges and universities.  

A Mexican American, Chair Bronin is the 12th ACHP chair, the first person of color to serve in the position, and only the second full-time, Senate-confirmed chair of the agency. The position was converted from a part-time position by the 2016 enactment of the National Park Service Centennial Act, which contained amendments to the NHPA. In stepping down from the ACHP, Chair Bronin also relinquishes her seat on the Permitting Council and her seat on the board of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.

Chair Bronin will return to her tenured position at Cornell University, where she serves as a Professor in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning; a Professor in the Rubacha Department of Real Estate; an Associate Faculty member of the Law School; and Graduate Faculty member of the Field of Architecture; and where her interdisciplinary research in the areas of property, land use, historic preservation, and energy focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected places.