To direct the Secretary of Interior to submit to Congress a report on the National Park Service's interpretation and application of the Standards for Rehabilitation for use of the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program.
H.R. 2448 would require the Secretary of the Interior to submit, within one year of enactment, a congressional report on how the National Park Service interprets and applies the Standards for Rehabilitation in administering the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program. The report would be sent to the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It would include 10 years of data on how program applications were processed (timelines, hold notices, conditions, denials, approvals, withdraws) and analyze barriers to affordable housing, recommendations for updating the Standards and guidance to facilitate affordable housing, and steps the Service has taken to improve interpretation. The bill also asks for Secretary-level recommendations on updates to the Standards and related guidelines to improve compatibility with affordable housing, climate resilience, and feasibility considerations.
Key Points
- 1The bill directs the Interior Secretary to prepare a comprehensive report evaluating the National Park Service’s interpretation and application of the Standards for Rehabilitation for the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program.
- 2The report must cover 10 years of program-application data (processing times, hold notices, conditions, denials, approvals, withdrawals), broken out by project size, type, and parts of the program application.
- 3It requires analysis of barriers to affordable housing and recommendations to update guidance and provide improvements to facilitate housing development while protecting historic resources (including conversions of nonresidential buildings, hazard remediation, energy efficiency, accessibility, and other user-identified barriers).
- 4The report should describe steps the Service has taken to improve interpretation over the prior decade, address frequent issues raised by users and reviewers, and explain how feedback is solicited and incorporated.
- 5It calls for Secretary recommendations on updates to the Standards and accompanying guidelines to better support affordable housing, climate risk protection for historic properties, and consideration of economic and technical feasibility.
- 6The bill specifies where the report will be submitted (House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources) and notes that the Secretary is the Interior Secretary; the Standards referenced are the 36 C.F.R. Part 67 Standards for Rehabilitation.