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Committee narrows historic-preservation grant criteria; museums say interior work still needed
Summary
A Montana House subcommittee advanced proposed changes to the Montana Historic Preservation Grant Program that emphasize fixing building envelopes and utility systems. Museum representatives said the language risks excluding interior work essential to preserving collections and exhibits.
Representative John Fitzpatrick, House District 76, told the Montana House Subcommittee F on Oct. 12 that House Bill 756 would tighten the Montana Historic Preservation Grant Program’s statutory criteria to emphasize protecting building envelopes — roofs, exterior walls, foundations, doors and windows — and internal utility systems.
"House bill 7 56 is a subcommittee f bill," Fitzpatrick said in his opening remarks. He told the committee the bill grew out of work on House Bill 12 and that the subcommittee sought to focus limited state funds on preserving the structural integrity of historic buildings so they can be repurposed in the future.
The bill’s sponsor said the program faces a funding gap: applicants requested roughly $23,000,000 while the bill provided a little over $6,000,000. Fitzpatrick said the subcommittee also removed a requirement to evaluate expected ongoing statewide economic benefits and tightened local-match…
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