The enactment last fall of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill meant a sudden – and, many would argue, much-needed – infusion of funding into states and Tribal nations for a wide range of projects. This presents a golden opportunity for CRM firms, whose expertise would be called on to conduct Section 106 reviews before shovels hit the ground. But it also presents a challenge, as state and Tribal historic preservation offices face the prospect of unprecedented workloads, which threaten to delay the review process and other preservation activities.
Good news came last week, however, as historic preservation advocates introduced landmark legislation that would ramp up the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), doubling its annual funding level and making it a permanent program for the first time in its history. The Historic Preservation Enhancement Act (H.R. 6589) was introduced by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) and developed in conjunction with ACRA, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) and the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATPHO).
The bill would make the HPF permanent and double its authorized amount to $300 million per year. As ACRA President Daniel Cassedy wrote to Rep. Leger Fernandez, “H.R. 6589 gives preservation offices, the companies that work with them, and communities that rely on grant funds to promote preservation what they most desperately need: support to build their capacity to serve their communities and certainty that the funding will be available in the future.“
But getting the bill introduced and shepherding it to enactment are not the same; ACRA and its allies are now working to advance the bill through Congress. This week ACRA sent a message to its members asking them to urge their representatives to support the bill. Every voice counts!
H.R.6589 was not the only hopeful news for the HPF in recent days. Congressional negotiators are inching closer to a deal to fund the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends in October. Because the appropriations committees in both chambers had previously proposed record high amounts for the Fund in the current fiscal year, the chances that the Fund will receive an increase in money this spring have increased.
In the meantime, Congress is working to stave off a government shutdown, which would happen on Feb. 18 unless Congress acts to head it off. Last week, the House passed legislation last week to fund the government through March 11. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the Senate will take up the stopgap measure “quickly.”
The developments around the HPF come as the administration is accelerating efforts to get infrastructure money out the door. One example is the Interior Department’s announcement that it will oversee a program allotting $1.15 billion to states to take on the cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells, the first disbursement from the $4.7 billion pot directed for that purpose by the infrastructure law. The Department said each eligible state will initially be allocated a $25 million grant, and additional funds will be allocated based on the number of documented wells, the cost of plugging them and the number of jobs the state lost between March 2020 and November 2021.
Government Personnel Get Administration’s Attention
As it works with Congress to pass a budget, the White House also is taking steps it says will help increase morale and retention in the federal government.
Most notably for the CRM industry, the Bureau of Land Management said last week it plans to hire up to 600 new employees in 2022, in part to address the staffing shortages that resulted from the Trump-era decision to relocate the bureau’s national headquarters to Colorado.
According to E&E News, “Mike Nedd, BLM’s deputy director of operations, made the announcement about hiring plans in an all-staff email sent out yesterday that outlined steps the Biden administration is taking to address employee concerns. Nedd’s email addressed what he called nine major ‘themes’ that came out of more than 150 ‘listening sessions’ he held with ‘employees and managers across the BLM’ between June and November 2021. These included not only BLM staffing shortages but also ongoing plans to return to offices amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of diversity among the bureau’s more than 9,000 employees.”
In addition to the BLM announcement, the White House is taking action to support the right of federal employees to unionize and increase pay on federal construction projects.
Last week, Vice President Harris’s White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment recommended nearly 70 policies to strengthen workers’ rights to organize in the federal government, including requiring that federal contract money is not spent on anti-union campaigns and ensuring federal employees understand their right to collectively bargain.
And two weeks ago, President Biden signed an executive order requiring “project labor agreements” in federal construction projects over $35 million. The order will apply to $262 billion in federal construction contracting and impact nearly 200,000 workers. The new executive order excludes projects funded by grants to non-federal agencies.