The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) Many museums have benefited greatly from having property loaned to them for study or display. Problems have arisen, however, in connection with loans for indefinite or long terms, when museums and lenders have failed to maintain contact. Many of these problems could be avoided by a clarification and regularization of the rights and obligations of the parties to loans for indefinite or long terms.
(b) An existing law, the Unclaimed Property Law (commencing with Section 1500 of the Code of Civil Procedure), is technically applicable to property on loan to a museum which has been left unclaimed by its owner for at least seven years.
(c) While the Unclaimed Property Law addresses problems similar to those which arise in the museum context when the parties to loans fail to maintain contact, there is need for an alternative method of dealing with unclaimed property in the hands of museums, one tailored to the unique circumstances of unclaimed loans to museums. These circumstances include the likelihood that the unclaimed property has significant scientific, historical, aesthetic, or cultural value but does not have great monetary value; that the public’s interest in the intangible values of unclaimed property loaned to museums can best be realized if title is transferred to the museums holding the property; that often lenders intend eventually to donate property but place it on indefinite or long term loan initially for tax and other reasons; and that many museums have incurred unreimbursed expenses in caring for and storing unclaimed loaned property.
(d) There is an inherent tendency for the condition of tangible property to change over time. Loaned property often requires conservation work and conservation measures may be expensive or potentially detrimental to the property. Organic materials and specimens may serve as breeding grounds for insects, fungi, or diseases which threaten other more valuable property.
(e) Museums cannot reasonably be expected to make decisions regarding conservation or disposition of loaned property at their own risk and expense. Over time, however, lenders die or move, and museums and lenders lose contact. If a lender has failed to maintain contact with a museum, it is often impossible to locate the lender so that the lender can make decisions regarding conservation or disposition of loaned property.
(f) Since museums rarely relocate, it is easier for lenders, and those who claim through them, to notify museums of address or ownership changes so that museums can readily contact lenders when decisions must be made regarding conservation or disposition of loaned property.
(g) The best evidence of ownership of property on loan to a museum is generally the original loan receipt. The longer property remains on loan, the less likely it is that the original lender will claim it, and the more likely it is that any claim which is made will be made by someone who does not have the original loan receipt or other clear evidence of ownership. The state has a substantial interest in cutting off stale and uncertain claims to tangible personal property loaned to nonprofit and public museums.
(h) Most of the tangible personal property which escheats to the state under the Unclaimed Property Law is found in safe deposit boxes. Although 40–50 percent of the intangible property which escheats to the state is subsequently claimed, less than 1 percent of escheated tangible personal property is claimed. Of the few claims which are presented to the Controller for tangible personal property, most are presented within two years of the date the Controller gives notice of the escheat.
(i) The public interest is served by requiring lenders to notify museums of changes in address or ownership of loaned property, by establishing a uniform procedure for lenders to preserve their interests in property loaned to museums for indefinite or long terms, and by vesting title to unclaimed property on loan to museums in the museums which have custody of the property.
(Added by Stats. 1983, Ch. 61, Sec. 1.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018