BILL NUMBER: AB 482 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Atkins
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Ian Calderon)
(Coauthor: Senator Block)
FEBRUARY 19, 2013
An act to amend Sections 20053 and 20080 of, and to add Section
20092 to, the Education Code, relating to the California Cultural and
Historical Endowment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 482, Atkins. California Cultural and Historical Endowment.
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. The bill would, if the endowment creates the grant program,
require the endowment to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles
for the purpose of creating a specialized license plate program. The
bill would require that the fees collected from the sale of the
specialized license plates be deposited in the California Cultural
and Historical Endowment Fund, and, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, be available to fund the grant program.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 20053 of the Education Code is amended to read:
20053. (a) There is in the Natural Resources Agency the
California Cultural and Historical Endowment, consisting of the
following 10 members:
(1) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, who shall serve
as chair of the endowment, or his or her designee.
(2) The State Librarian, or his or her designee.
(3) The Director of Finance, or his or her designee.
(4) Three members appointed by the Governor.
(5) Two members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(6) Two members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(b) Two Members of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee
on Rules, and two Members of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker
of the Assembly, shall meet with the endowment and participate in its
activities to the extent that such participation is not incompatible
with their respective positions as Members of the Legislature.
SEC. 2. Section 20080 of the Education Code is amended to read:
20080. The endowment shall undertake a comprehensive survey of
the state of cultural and historical preservation, accessibility, and
interpretation in California. In conducting the survey, the
endowment shall coordinate with existing state agencies, including
the California Arts Council and the Secretary of State. The report
shall include all of the following:
(a) A survey of elements in California's existing assemblage of
buildings, sites, artifacts, museums, cultural landscapes, trails,
illustrations, the arts and artistic expressions, written materials,
and displays and interpretive centers that are missing or
underrepresented, such as if current facilities, materials, and
services leave out, misrepresent, or inadequately present some
important thread of the story of California as a unified society or
of the many groups of people that together comprise historic and
modern California.
(b) Recommendations for steps that should be taken to fill in the
missing or underrepresented elements identified in subdivision (a).
(c) Recommendations for the manner of transferring the Office of
Historic Preservation in the Department of Parks and Recreation to
the endowment, consistent with the Legislature's intent expressed in
Section 20052.5.
(d) Recommendations for additional steps that should be taken to
better preserve and administer cultural and historic resources
efficiently and effectively, including additional actions that should
be taken to improve the governmental structures responsible for
historic and cultural preservation in California, including oversight
and support of museums. In particular, the endowment shall examine
the feasibility and desirability of establishing the endowment as a
separate institution in state government, without ties to any
existing agency or department, although under the general authority
of the Governor. The endowment shall also identify the most
appropriate chair, or the most appropriate method for selecting the
chair, of its board.
(e) A survey of the capacities and fiscal conditions of public,
nonprofit, and other private entities in California that provide
cultural and historical facilities and services, including museums.
(f) Recommendations for the future financing of cultural and
historical programs provided by public agencies and nonprofit
agencies in California, including museums.
(g) Recommendations for programs to encourage the historic
maintenance and restoration of properties in private ownership,
including, but not limited to, a state tax credit for restoration of
historic properties that maintain historic integrity, property tax
deferral as long as a property's historic integrity is maintained,
and low interest loans.
(h) A study of the economic impact of the preservation and
interpretation of cultural and historic resources in the state. This
should include the economic benefits resulting from the preservation
of historic commercial and residential properties and sites, and from
historic and cultural tourism activities.
SEC. 3. Section 20092 is added to the Education Code, to read:
20092. (a) The endowment may create a competitive grant program
to support small capital projects in museums pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 20057. The grant program shall give priority to the
objectives listed in Section 20091. Once funding becomes available
from the sale of specialized license plates pursuant to subdivision
(b), funding for the grant program shall only be made, upon
apppropriation by the Legislature, from the funds collected pursuant
to subdivision (b).
(b) If the endowment creates the grant program described in
subdivision (a), the endowment shall apply to the Department of Motor
Vehicles pursuant to Section 5156 of the Vehicle Code for the
purpose of creating a specialized license plate program. It is hereby
warranted to the purchasers of these specialized license plates that
the fees collected from the sale of the specialized license plates
shall be deposited in the California Cultural and Historical
Endowment Fund to fund the grant program described in subdivision
(a). The endowment shall comply with all of the requirements of
Article 8.6 (commencing with Section 5151) of Chapter 1 of Division 3
of the Vehicle Code that apply to a state agency that sponsors a
specialized license plate program.