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.