Public Policy Update: November 2018
Advocacy is a big part of what we do here at the League. Our Advocacy Updates page is a great resource for real-time information on the world of historic preservation policy, but we wanted to share a rundown of a few important recent updates.
If you are passionate about advocating for New York’s historic resources, we hope you’ll join us for the 2019 Preservation Advocacy Day at the NYS Capitol on February 5, 2019!
Historic Tax Credit Impact in New York State
In 2017, Federal Historic Tax Credit projects generated over a billion dollars of rehabilitation project investment in New York alone – the highest dollar amount of any state in the country! This brought the Qualified Rehabilitation Expenditures (QRE) from 2014-2017 to over $2.9 billion.
The Value of the Federal Historic Tax Credit
The National Park Service recently released their Annual Reports on the Economic Impact of the Federal Historic Tax Credit for Fiscal Year 2017, which illustrates the value of the Federal Historic Tax Credit. Historic Tax Credit related investments in Federal Fiscal Year 2017 generated approximately 107,000 jobs nationwide, including 38,000 in construction and 24,000 in manufacturing, and were responsible for $6.2 billion in GDP, including $2 billion in construction and $1.8 billion in manufacturing.
State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation recently passed changes to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The League sent comments to DEC last May in a letter cosigned by nine Preservation Colleague groups. The proposed amendments have been adopted and will go into effect on January 1, 2019, the changes most relevant to historic preservation can be found in our memo, and all adopted amendments can be found on the DEC website.
Looking ahead to the 2019 Legislative Session
The League has worked diligently to develop a list of priorities for the NYS 2019 Legislative Session. Including:
Securing sufficient federal funding for the operations of the New York State Historic Preservation Office;
Enhancing the New York State Historic Tax Credit;
Securing state funding to meet the staffing, programmatic, and capital needs of the NYS Council on the Arts, which supports our state’s arts and cultural institutions, as well as the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), which oversees New York State Parks and Historic Sites; and
Supporting full funding of the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), source of funding for the OPRHP’s Historic Preservation Grants Fund and other important environmental programs