Contributed by: Preservation Action
Organization: Preservation Action
Dated Posted: April 7, 2026
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Last week, a bipartisan group of 91 Representatives from 31 states and territories signed on to the FY27 Dear Colleague letter in support of funding for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The final letter was submitted to the House Appropriations Committee. This demonstrates strong support for the HPF and far exceeds our total number of signers from the last three years. Thank you to everyone that reached out to your members of Congress. It's clear your advocacy has an impact. We'd especially like to thank the co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) for leading this effort.

As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the 50th anniversary of the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) in 2026, this bipartisan letter requested a historic $250 million in funding for the HPF. This is the same level Preservation Action and advocates from around the country pushed for during National Historic Preservation Advocacy Week. The letter urged robust funding for State Historic Preservation Offices at $70 million, $34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, includes $25 million for digitization of state and Tribal records to accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure projects, $13 million for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities preservation grant program, and $108 million for six existing preservation grant programs.

Did your Representative sign-on to the FY27 House HPF Dear Colleague Letter? Check out the final list of signers and be sure to thank them for their vocal support of historic preservation. We expect a Senate letter to begin circulating soon. Stay tuned for more details.

Learn More: https://preservationaction.org/fy27-hpf-signon/