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On June 10, National Trust staff joined preservation advocates, community leaders, and coalition partners from across the country for the Historic Tax Credit Coalition’s annual Capitol Hill Day. Participants met with dozens of congressional offices to discuss the importance of the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) and advocate for improvements through the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO).

Advocates highlighted the HTC’s long track record of driving community revitalization, creating housing, supporting small businesses, and preserving historic buildings in communities of all sizes. Participants also emphasized the need to strengthen the credit, encouraging members of Congress to support HTC-GO (H.R. 2941/S. 1459). This bipartisan legislation would modernize and strengthen the credit by restoring one-year credit delivery, improving access for smaller and rural projects, and making more historic buildings eligible for rehabilitation.

You can help! Reach out to your members of Congress now to urge them to protect and enhance historic tax credits.

Updated Federal Historic Tax Credit state maps, featuring newly added FY25 project and investment data, are now available. Organized into individual PDFs for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, these resources highlight Federal Historic Tax Credit projects that received Part 3 certifications from the National Park Service between fiscal years 2001 and 2025. Designed to be printed and shared with elected officials, the maps, economic data, and project lists are valuable and effective advocacy tools for demonstrating the impact of the Historic Tax Credit in communities across the country.

We have a critical window to strengthen the Historic Tax Credit (HTC), and your voice is needed more than ever!

The reconciliation bill has now passed the Senate by a tie-breaking margin and is heading back to the House for final consideration. While this bill has cleared both chambers, it did so without the important provisions and improvements from the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO). But the process isn’t over and there’s still time to advocate for the inclusion of these essential updates!

HTC-GO has substantial bipartisan support and would make smart, targeted improvements to the credit, especially for smaller projects, affordable housing, and the revitalization of rural communities. These enhancements are a powerful way to support local economies, create jobs, and preserve the historic places that matter most.

Contact your representatives in the House and urge them to include HTC improvements in the final reconciliation package.

The more they hear from advocates like you, the greater our chances of ensuring this proven preservation and economic development tool is strengthened and not sidelined.

On June 11, 2025, the Historic Tax Credit Coalition (HTCC) hosted its annual Lobby Day, bringing together advocates from across the country to urge Congress to support improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC).

This year’s advocacy event featured more than 70 meetings with House and Senate offices where National Trust staff across multiple departments highlighted the broad, bipartisan support for this crucial component of preservation policy.

Advocates placed enhancements to the federal HTC within the context of Senate budget reconciliation negotiations, which evolved in real time during Capitol Hill visits. Advocates worked to educate Congressional offices on the positive benefits of including enhancements to the HTC in upcoming reconciliation legislation.

The meetings also encouraged support for the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 2941/S. 1459), a bill that would make much-needed enhancements to the HTC program. This bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House by Representatives Darin LaHood (R IL) and Tom Suozzi (D NY) and in the Senate by Senators Bill Cassidy (R LA) and Mark Warner (D VA). Senator Cassidy praised the transformative effect of the HTC in a Senate Finance Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Bessent.

Unfortunately, HTC provisions were not included in the House version of the budget reconciliation bill, nor were they included in the Senate Finance Committee’s portion of the same bill. However, there’s still time to advocate for the HTC’s inclusion in this quickly-moving legislation. Join us in asking Congress to include enhancements to the HTC in any upcoming reconciliation packages.

Earlier this month, the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) was introduced in the Senate (S. 1459) by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and in the House (H.R. 2941) by Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

The bill includes targeted improvements to make the credit more accessible and effective, including a return to a one-year credit structure, eliminating the basis reduction requirement which will support affordable housing projects, and several provisions that support smaller projects and projects located in rural areas.

These updates are designed to build on the HTC’s long-standing success in revitalizing communities, creating jobs, and encouraging private investment in the reuse of historic buildings.

HTC-GO represents a major opportunity to ensure that this proven community development tool is better positioned to meet the needs of both urban and rural areas.

Despite strong bipartisan support for HTC-GO, however, improvements to the incentive were not included in the House Ways and Means Committee’s tax reconciliation package, which passed out of the committee earlier this month.

The Committee bill focuses primarily on extending provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and advancing the Administration’s top tax priorities.

As a result of the tight spending constraints of the House Reconciliation bill, few opportunities exist to incorporate substantive provisions for community development incentives, including the historic tax credit.

This makes HTC advocacy in the Senate critically needed. The Senate Finance Committee is currently drafting its version of the reconciliation tax bill.

Advocates must take action now to make the most of this opportunity by urging Senators to support including improvements to the HTC in the Senate package.

This is the moment advocates have been waiting for to improve the HTC.

We encourage all historic tax credit supporters to contact their Senators – especially Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee – and urge them to support HTC-GO and include it in the final reconciliation bill.