SB342

ENGROSSED

By Senators Figures and Orr

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

Relating to cultural property; to establish procedures for cultural institutions to assume ownership of abandoned loans or undocumented property in the possession of the institution; to provide for notice to the owner and public notification regarding abandoned loans or property; to provide procedures for claiming title to abandoned property; to allow a cultural institution to conserve or dispose of loaned or undocumented property under certain conditions; to limit actions brought against cultural institutions relating to abandoned loans or undocumented property; and to provide exceptions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:

Section 1. The purpose of this act shall be the following:

(1) To establish procedures for allowing a cultural institution to assume ownership of abandoned loans or undocumented property in the possession of that cultural institution.

(2) To allow a cultural institution to conserve or dispose of loaned or undocumented property under certain conditions.

Section 2. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) CULTURAL INSTITUTION or INSTITUTION. An organized and permanent nonprofit or public institution in this state operated by, or a division of, a nonprofit corporation, trust, association, education institution, or public agency, that is primarily educational, scientific, historic, or aesthetic in purpose, and that owns, borrows, cares for, studies, archives, or exhibits cultural property. The term includes art, history, science and natural history museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, historic sites, and science and technology centers.

(2) CULTURAL PROPERTY. Any tangible object in the possession of and under the care of a cultural institution that has intrinsic educational, scientific, historical, artistic, aesthetic, or cultural value.

(3) DATE OF CUSTODY. The date of the initial delivery of the cultural property to a cultural institution.

(4) LOAN. A deposit of cultural property to a cultural institution that is not accompanied by transfer of title to that property and for which there is some indication that the owner intended to retain title to that property.

(5) LENDER. An individual, association, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, or other entity whose name appears on the records of a cultural institution as the person legally entitled to, or claiming to be legally entitled to, property held by that institution or, if such person is deceased, the legal heirs of such person.

(6) UNDOCUMENTED PROPERTY. Cultural property in possession of a cultural institution for which that institution cannot determine ownership or intent of placement with the institution by reference to its records and for which that institution has no reasonable means of determining ownership or intent of placement.

Section 3. (a) This act does not apply to any of the following:

(1) The Alabama Department of Archives and History.

(2) Any Native American human remains or objects of cultural patrimony that are governed by The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act or the Alabama Antiquities Act of 1908, Section 41-3-1, Code of Alabama 1975.

(b) This act does not vest ownership of undocumented property in the cultural institution if the undocumented cultural property is determined later to be stolen property or property whose ownership is subject to federal law.

Section 4. (a) If a loan agreement on cultural property on loan to a cultural institution has expired and that institution has notified the lender of the loan's expiration and at least five years have passed with no further contact between that institution and lender, the property is considered abandoned.

(b) If a cultural institution has held the abandoned cultural property for at least five years and wishes to gain ownership of this property, the institution shall notify the owner of its intent to claim title to the property by sending a certified letter, return receipt requested, to the owner's last known address on file with the institution.

(c) If the institution receives no response to the letter within 30 days, or if the letter is returned undelivered, the institution shall publish notice of intent to claim title with a listing of the cultural property in the following ways:

(1) Public notice posted in a conspicuous location at the county courthouse in the county in which the cultural institution is located for a period of at least two weeks.

(2) Public notice posted in a conspicuous location at the county courthouse in the county of the lender's last known address on file with the institution for a period of at least two weeks.

(3) Publication in one other form of media.

(d) The published notice shall contain all of the following:

(1) A description of the abandoned property.

(2) The name and last known address of the owner.

(3) The date of the loan.

(4) A statement that if written assertion of title is not presented by the owner to the cultural institution within 90 days from the date of the public notices required in subsection (c), title to the property shall be transferred to the cultural institution, free of all claims of the owner and all persons claiming under the owner.

(e) The cultural institution becomes owner of the abandoned loan property on the day after the five-year period ends and after following the notification process outlined in subsections (b) and (c).

(f) The lender of cultural property to an institution shall provide that institution with written notice of any change of the lender's address, of the lender's designated agent, of the designated agent's address, and the name and address of the new lender if there is a change in ownership of the cultural property loaned to that institution. If the lender does not provide this updated information, the cultural institution bears no responsibility to search for the lender beyond the last known address in the institution's records.

(g)(1) At the time that a lender makes a loan to a cultural institution, that institution shall give the owner notification of this act in writing.

(2) Each cultural institution shall keep accurate records of all property on loan to that institution, including the name and address of the lender, if known, and the beginning and ending date of the loan period.

(3) Not less than 90 days before a cultural institution changes its address or dissolves, the institution shall notify all lenders of that change of address or dissolution.

Section 5. (a) If a cultural institution has held custody of undocumented property for at least five years, the institution may establish its ownership of the property by publishing notice of intent to claim title with a listing of the undocumented property in the following ways:

(1) Public notice posted in a conspicuous location at the county courthouse in the county in which the cultural institution is located for a period of at least two weeks.

(2) Publication in one other form of media.

(b) The published notice shall contain all of the following:

(1) A description of the undocumented property.

(2) A statement that if written assertion of title is not presented by the owner to the cultural institution within 90 days from the date of the public notices required in subsection (a), title to the property shall belong to the institution, free of all claims of the owner and all persons claiming under the owner.

(c) The cultural institution becomes owner of the abandoned loan property on the day after the five-year period ends and after following the notification process outlined in subsections (a) and (b).

Section 6. (a) If a cultural institution receives a written claim of ownership for any cultural property for which intent to claim title was made, pursuant to Section 4, from the lender on record with that institution, or the designated agent of such lender, the institution shall return the property to the lender or carry out the disposition of such property as the lender requests not later than 90 days after receipt of such written claim of ownership, provided the lender shall advise the institution in writing as to the disposition of such property or how such property is to be returned to the lender. Any costs incurred as a result of returning such property or the disposition of such property shall be the responsibility of the lender unless the lender and the institution have mutually agreed to alternate arrangements.

(b)(1) If a cultural institution receives a written claim of ownership for any property for which notice of intent to claim title was made, pursuant to Section 4 or 5, from a person other than the lender on record with the institution, the cultural institution shall, not later than 90 days after receipt of such written claim of ownership, determine if such ownership claim is valid.

(2) A claimant shall submit proof of ownership to the institution with such written claim of ownership. If more than one person submits a written claim of ownership, the institution may delay its determination of ownership until the competing claims are resolved by agreement or legal action.

(3) A cultural institution is not obligated to initiate legal action to resolve competing claims. If the cultural institution determines that the written claim of ownership is valid or if the competing claims are resolved by agreement or judicial action, the institution shall return the property to the claimant submitting the valid claim of ownership or dispose of the property as the valid claimant requests.

(4) Any costs incurred as a result of returning the property or the disposition of the property shall be the responsibility of the valid claimant unless the valid claimant and the institution have mutually agreed to alternate arrangements.

Section 7. If newly received, but undocumented, property is found on a site controlled by a cultural institution, is from an unknown source, and might reasonably be considered a gift to that institution and if ownership of that property is not claimed and satisfactorily demonstrated by the owner within 90 days of its discovery, that cultural institution may claim title to the property with no further action or dispose of the property without taking ownership.

Section 8. (a) Unless there is a written stipulation in the loan agreement to the contrary, the cultural institution may apply conservation measures to or dispose of cultural property on loan to the cultural institution without formal notice or the owner's permission if immediate action is required to protect the cultural property on loan or other property in the cultural institution's custody, or if the cultural property on loan is a health or safety hazard for the public or staff, and either of the following circumstances occur:

(1) The cultural institution is unable to reach the owner at the owner's last known address so that the cultural institution and the owner may promptly agree on a solution.

(2) The owner will not agree to the protective measures the cultural institution recommends, yet is unwilling to terminate the loan and retrieve the property promptly.

(b) A cultural institution is not liable for injury to, or loss of, loaned cultural property if either of the following occur:

(1) The cultural institution had a reasonable belief at the time of action that the action was necessary to protect the property on loan or other property in the custody of the institution, or that the property on loan constituted a hazard to the health and safety of the public or the cultural institution staff.

(2) When the cultural institution applied conservation measures, the institution exercised reasonable care in the choice and application of the conservation measures.

Section 9. (a) A cultural institution that acquires ownership of cultural property under this act receives the property free of any claim by a claimant or owner.

(b) Any person or institution which purchases or otherwise receives transfer of property from a cultural institution acquires good title to the property if the institution represents that it has acquired title to the property pursuant to Section 4, 5, or 6.

(c) Except as may be otherwise provided in a written agreement between an owner and a cultural institution, no action shall be brought against an institution to recover loaned cultural property when more than five years have passed from the receipt by the institution of written communication concerning the loaned property or any display of interest in the property by the owner as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file prepared by an employee of the institution.

(d) Abandoned cultural property may not be delivered to the State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property Division and shall be exempt from the provisions of the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act of 2004, Title 35, Code of Alabama 1975, but title shall pass to the cultural institution if no person takes action required under this act.

Section 10. This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Property, Real and Personal

Museums

Archives and History Department

Abandoned Property