The Congressional Historic Preservation Caucus: An Advocacy Tool for the 21st Century
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Abstract
Historic Preservation depends a great deal on national, state, and local legislative action from both a regulatory and funding perspective. To advocate successfully on behalf of a national historic preservation policy agenda, a comprehensive understanding of the nuances of the federal legislative process along with a strong insight into the internal and external dynamics feeding into that process are vital. At the federal level, many legislators choose to organize into partisan, bipartisan or bicameral groups, commonly called Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) or caucuses, with the intent to pursue common legislative objectives, coordinate actions and affect policy within their legislative body. The Congressional Historic Preservation Caucus (CHPC) is such a group. The mission of this particular bipartisan caucus, formed at the beginning of the 108th Congress (2003-2004) within the U.S. House of Representatives, is based on the recognition that successful federal historic preservation policy requires coordination and advocacy efforts between federal, state, local, public, and private groups. The assumption is that these coordinated efforts, particularly when executed at the federal level with the help of caucus members and their staffs, can greatly enhance the probability of positive legislative outcomes for historic preservation.