AB 482, as amended, Atkins. California Cultural and Historical Endowment.
(1) Existing law, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Act, establishes the California Cultural and Historical Endowment in the California State Library, and provides that it is chaired by the State Librarian. Among other things, the act authorizes the endowment to make grants and loans on a competitive basis to public agencies and nonprofit organizations, as defined, to encourage development of California’s historical and cultural resources and requires the endowment to undertake a comprehensive survey of the state of cultural and historical preservation, accessibility, and interpretation in California.
This bill would transfer the California Cultural and Historical Endowment to the Natural Resources Agency and would provide that the endowment be chaired by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency and that the State Librarian remain as a member. The bill would also make a conforming change.
This bill would authorize the endowment to create a specified competitive grant program to support small capital projects in museums and would require that moneys deposited in the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Fund from the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Fund be made available to the endowment, for the purpose of initially funding the grant program. The bill would, if the endowment creates the grant program, require the endowment to apply, on or before October 1, 2013, to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of creating a specialized license plate programbegin delete using the cartoon character Snoopy as created by Charles M. Schulz and made available through the California Association of Museums to assist museums
in Californiaend delete. The bill would require that the additional fees collected from the sale of the specialized license plates be deposited in the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to fund the grant program.
(2) By requiring that the additional fees collected from the sale of the specialized license plates be deposited into the continuously appropriated California Cultural and Endowment Fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 20053 of the Education Code is amended
2to read:
(a) There is in the Natural Resources Agency the
4California Cultural and Historical Endowment, consisting of the
5following 10 members:
6(1) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, who shall
7serve as chair of the endowment, or his or her designee.
8(2) The State Librarian, or his or her designee.
9(3) The Director of Finance, or his or her designee.
10(4) Three members appointed by the Governor.
11(5) Two members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
P3 1(6) Two members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
2(b) Two Members of the Senate, appointed by the Senate
3Committee on Rules, and two Members of the Assembly, appointed
4by the Speaker of the Assembly, shall meet with the endowment
5and participate in its activities to the extent that such participation
6is not incompatible with their respective positions as Members of
7the Legislature.
Section 20080 of the Education Code is amended to
9read:
The endowment shall undertake a comprehensive survey
11of the state of cultural and historical preservation, accessibility,
12and interpretation in California. In conducting the survey, the
13endowment shall coordinate with existing state agencies, including
14the California Arts Council and the Secretary of State. The report
15shall include all of the following:
16(a) A survey of elements in California’s existing assemblage of
17buildings, sites, artifacts, museums, cultural landscapes, trails,
18illustrations, the arts and artistic expressions, written materials,
19
and displays and interpretive centers that are missing or
20underrepresented, such as if current facilities, materials, and
21services leave out, misrepresent, or inadequately present some
22important thread of the story of California as a unified society or
23of the many groups of people that together comprise historic and
24modern California.
25(b) Recommendations for steps that should be taken to fill in
26the missing or underrepresented elements identified in subdivision
27(a).
28(c) Recommendations for the manner of transferring the Office
29of Historic Preservation in the Department of Parks and Recreation
30to the endowment, consistent with the Legislature’s intent
31expressed in Section 20052.5.
32(d) Recommendations for additional steps that should be taken
33to better preserve and administer cultural and historic resources
34efficiently and effectively, including additional actions that should
35be taken to improve the governmental structures responsible for
36historic and cultural preservation in California, including oversight
37and support of museums. In particular, the endowment shall
38examine the feasibility and desirability of establishing the
39endowment as a separate institution in state government, without
40ties to any existing agency or department, although under the
P4 1general authority of the Governor. The endowment shall also
2identify the most appropriate chair, or the most appropriate method
3for selecting the chair, of its board.
4(e) A survey of the capacities and fiscal conditions of public,
5nonprofit, and other private
entities in California that provide
6cultural and historical facilities and services, including museums.
7(f) Recommendations for the future financing of cultural and
8historical programs provided by public agencies and nonprofit
9agencies in California, including museums.
10(g) Recommendations for programs to encourage the historic
11maintenance and restoration of properties in private ownership,
12including, but not limited to, a state tax credit for restoration of
13historic properties that maintain historic integrity, property tax
14deferral as long as a property’s historic integrity is maintained,
15and low interest loans.
16(h) A study of the economic impact of the preservation and
17interpretation of cultural and historic resources in the
state. This
18should include the economic benefits resulting from the
19preservation of historic commercial and residential properties and
20sites, and from historic and cultural tourism activities.
Section 20092 is added to the Education Code, to read:
(a) The endowment may create a competitive grant
23program to support small capital projects in museums pursuant to
24subdivision (b) of Section 20057. The grant program shall give
25priority to the objectives listed in Section 20091 and shall be
26funded initially from any moneys deposited in the California
27Cultural and Historical Endowment Fund from the California Clean
28Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection
29Fund for the administration of the endowment. Once funding
30becomes available from the sale of specialized license plates
31pursuant to subdivision (b), funding for the grant program shall
32only be made from the funds collected pursuant to subdivision (b).
33(b) If the endowment creates the grant program described in
34
subdivision (a), the endowment shall apply, on or before October
351, 2013, to the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to Section
365156 of the Vehicle Code for the purpose of creating a specialized
37license plate programbegin delete using the cartoon character Snoopy as . It is
38authorized by Jean Schulz, widow of the artist Charles M. Schulz,
39the creator of Snoopy, and made available through the California
40Association of Museums to assist museums in Californiaend delete
P5 1hereby warranted to the purchasers of these specialized license
2plates that the additional fees collected from the sale of the
3specialized license plates shall be deposited in the California
4Cultural and Historical Endowment Fund to fund the grant program
5described in subdivision (a). The endowment shall comply with
6all of the requirements of
Article 8.6 (commencing with Section
75151) of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of the Vehicle Code that apply
8to a state agency that sponsors a specialized license plate program.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
10immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
11the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
12immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
13In order for the transfer of the California Cultural and Historical
14Endowment to the Natural Resources Agency be accomplished in
15a timely, effective, and economical manner, it is necessary that
16this act take immediate effect.
O
97