From Preservation Action:

This week the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held the markup for their FY23 Interior Appropriations bill. This bill includes $170.825 million for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), just below the current the FY22 enacted level of $173.072 million, but $19 million over the President's request. Once again the bill notably exceeds the current authorized level of $150 million. Overall the bill calls for $3.6 billion for the National Park Service, an increase of $378 million over enacted levels. The full breakdown for the Historic Preservation Fund is below. 

$82 million for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices ($8 million over FY22)
$26.5 million for Save America's Treasures grants (equal to FY22)
$10 million for competitive grants for HBCUs (equal to FY22)
$10 million for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grants (equal to FY22)
$26.75 million for Civil Rights Movement grants ($375,000 over FY22)
$3 million for the Semiquincentennial grant program ($7 million below FY22)
$1.25 million for Underrepresented Communities grants (equal to FY22)
$11.65 million for Community Project Funding ($3.622 below FY22)


Additionally, the bill includes $8.585 million for the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a $330,000 increase over FY22. The bill also fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million. The bill's HPF funding included $11.65 million in congressionally directed spending (or Community Project Funding) for historic preservation projects. You can view a complete list of the proposed HPF projects here.

The House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee voted to advance the bill, sending it to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration. While Preservation Action is very pleased to see much needed increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs) and continued strong support for programs like the African American Civil Rights grant program, we're disappointed in the decrease in overall funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. More is needed, especially as SHPOs and THPOs will face increased workloads in project reviews due to the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Preservation Action will continue to monitor the appropriations process and urge increased funding for the Historic Preservation Fund. Stay tuned for more!