Minnesota Legislature
Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 2004, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 213-H.F.No. 1645
An act relating to museums and archives repositories;
regulating loans to and abandoned property of museums
and archives repositories; providing a process for
establishing ownership of property loaned to museums
and archives repositories; proposing coding for new
law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 345.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. [345.70] [MINNESOTA MUSEUM PROPERTY ACT.]
Subdivision 1. [DEFINITIONS.] (a) As used in this section,
the terms defined in this subdivision have the meanings given
them.
(b) "Archives repository" means a nonprofit organization or
a public agency whose primary functions include selecting,
preserving, and making available records of historical or
enduring value, and that is open to the public on a regular
basis. Archives repository does not include a public library.
(c) "Loan" means the placement of property with a museum or
archives repository that is not accompanied by a transfer of
title of the property to the museum or archives repository and
for which there is some record that the owner intended to retain
title to the property. Loan does not include transfers between
museums, between archives repositories, or between museums and
archives repositories unless the transferring institution
specifically provides in writing that the transfer is a loan
under this section.
(d) "Museum" means a nonprofit organization or a public
agency that is operated primarily for the purpose of collecting,
cataloging, preserving, or exhibiting property of educational,
scientific, historic, cultural, or aesthetic interest and that
is open to the public on a regular basis. Museum does not
include a public library.
(e) "Property" means personal property.
Sec. 2. [345.71] [LOANS OF PROPERTY TO A MUSEUM OR
ARCHIVES REPOSITORY.]
Subdivision 1. [OWNERSHIP RECORDS.] Each museum or
archives repository shall keep accurate records of all property
on loan to the museum or archives repository, including the name
and address of the owner, if known, and the beginning and ending
date of the loan period. At the time that a person makes a loan
to a museum or archives repository, the museum or archives
repository shall give the owner of the property a copy of this
section. If a museum or archives repository is notified of a
change in the ownership of any property loaned to a museum or
archives repository, the museum or archives repository shall
inform the new owner of the provisions of the loan agreement and
shall send the new owner a copy of this section. Not less than
90 days before a museum or archives repository changes its
address or dissolves, the museum or archives repository shall
notify all owners of that change of address or dissolution. If
a museum or archives repository becomes the owner of property
under section 345.72 or 345.73, the museum or archives
repository shall maintain any records that the museum or
archives repository has regarding the property for not less than
two years after the date on which the museum or archives
repository becomes the owner of the property.
Subd. 2. [CHANGE IN ADDRESS OR OWNERSHIP.] The owner of
property loaned to a museum or archives repository shall provide
the museum or archives repository with written notice of any
change of the owner's address, of the owner's designated agent,
of the designated agent's address, and of the name and address
of the new owner if there is a change in the ownership of the
property loaned to the museum or archives repository.
Sec. 3. [345.72] ACQUIRING TITLE TO ABANDONED PROPERTY.]
Subdivision 1. [ACQUISITION.] Property loaned to a museum
or archives repository whose loan has an expiration date is
abandoned when there has not been written contact between the
owner and the museum or archives repository for at least seven
years after that expiration date. If the loan has no expiration
date, the property is abandoned when there has not been written
contact between the owner and the museum or archives repository
for at least seven years after the museum or archives repository
took possession of the property.
Subd. 2. [NOTICE.] (a) If a museum or archives repository
wishes to acquire title to abandoned property, the museum or
archives repository shall, not less than 60 days after property
is abandoned under subdivision 1, send a notice by certified
mail with return receipt requested to the owner's last known
address. The notice shall contain all of the following:
(1) a statement that the loan is terminated and that the
property is abandoned;
(2) a description of the property;
(3) a statement that the museum or archives repository will
become the owner of the property if the present owner does not
submit a written claim to the property to the museum or archives
repository within 60 days after receipt of the notice; and
(4) a statement that the museum or archives repository will
make arrangements with the owner to return the property to the
owner or dispose of the property as the owner requests if the
owner submits a written claim to the property to the museum or
archives repository within 60 days after receipt of the notice.
(b) The notice in paragraph (a) shall be substantially in
the following form:
NOTICE OF ABANDONMENT OF PROPERTY
To:..... (name of owner)
...... (address of owner)
Please be advised that the loan agreement is terminated for
the following property (describe the property in sufficient
detail to identify the property):
............................
............................
The above described property that you loaned to .... (name
and address of museum or archives repository) will be considered
abandoned by you and will become the property of ..... (name of
museum or archives repository) if you fail to submit to the
museum or archives repository a written claim to the property
within 60 days after receipt of this notice.
If you do submit a written claim to the property within 60
days after receipt of this notice, ..... (name of museum or
archives repository) will arrange to return the property to you
or dispose of the property as you request. The cost of
returning the property to you or disposing of the property is
your responsibility unless you have made other arrangements with
the museum or archives repository.
.....
(name of person to contact at
museum or archives repository
and address of museum or
archives repository)
Subd. 3. [PUBLICATION.] If the notice sent by the museum
or archives repository under subdivision 2 is returned to the
museum or archives repository undelivered, the museum or
archives repository shall give notice of the abandoned property
by publication, and the organization's Web site, if applicable,
containing the following:
(1) the name and last known address of the present owner;
(2) a description of the property;
(3) a statement that the property is abandoned and that the
museum or archives repository will become the owner of the
property if no person can prove their ownership of the property;
(4) a statement that a person claiming ownership of the
property shall notify the museum or archives repository in
writing of that claim within 60 days after publication of the
last legal notice; and
(5) the name and mailing address of the person who may be
contacted at the museum or archives repository if a person wants
to submit a written claim to the property.
Subd. 4. [CLAIMS FOR THE PROPERTY.] (a) If the museum or
archives repository receives a timely written claim for the
property from the owner or the owner's agent in response to the
notice sent under subdivision 2 or 3, the museum or archives
repository shall return the property to the owner or dispose of
the property as the owner requests. The owner shall advise the
museum or archives repository in writing as to how the property
shall be disposed of or returned to the owner. Costs of
returning the property or disposing of the property shall be the
responsibility of the owner unless the owner and the museum or
archives repository have made other arrangements.
(b) If the museum or archives repository receives a timely
written claim for the property from a person other than the
person who loaned the property to the museum or archives
repository in response to the notice sent under subdivision 2 or
3, the museum or archives repository shall, within 60 days after
receipt of the written claim, determine if the claim is valid.
A claimant shall submit proof of ownership with the claim. If
more than one person submits a timely written claim, the museum
or archives repository may delay its determination of ownership
until the competing claims are resolved by agreement or legal
action. If the museum or archives repository determines that
the claim is valid, or if the competing claims are resolved by
agreement or judicial action, the museum or archives repository
shall return the property to the claimant submitting the valid
claim or dispose of the property as the valid claimant
requests. Costs of returning the property or disposing of the
property shall be the responsibility of the valid claimant.
(c) If the museum or archives repository does not receive a
timely written claim to the property or if the museum or
archives repository determines that no valid timely claim to the
property was submitted, the museum or archives repository
becomes the owner of the property. The museum or archives
repository becomes the owner of the property on the day after
the period for submitting a written claim ends or on the day
after the museum or archives repository determines that no valid
timely written claim was submitted. The museum or archives
repository owns the property free from all claims.
Sec. 4. [345.73] [ACQUIRING TITLE TO UNDOCUMENTED
PROPERTY.]
Subdivision 1. [ACQUISITION.] Property in the possession
of a museum or archives repository which the museum or archives
repository has reason to believe may be on loan and, for which
the museum or archives repository does not know the owner, or
have any reasonable means of determining the owner, becomes the
property of the museum or archives repository if no person has
claimed the property within seven years after the museum or
archives repository took possession of the property. The museum
or archives repository becomes the owner of the property on the
day after the seven-year period ends, and after following the
notification process outlined in subdivision 2, free from all
claims.
Subd. 2. [NOTIFICATION.] The museum or archives repository
that wishes to acquire title to undocumented property described
in subdivision 1 shall provide public notice in the manner
described in section 345.72.
Subd. 3. [PRESUMPTION OF GIFT TO MUSEUM.] Effective August
1, 2004, property that: (1) is found in or on property
controlled by the museum; (2) is from an unknown source; and (3)
might reasonably be assumed to have been intended as a gift to
the museum, is conclusively presumed to be a gift to the museum
if ownership of the property is not claimed by a person within
90 days of its discovery.
Sec. 5. [345.74] [CONSERVATION OF MUSEUM PROPERTY.]
Subdivision 1. [PROTECTION OF LOANED PROPERTY.] Unless
there is a written loan agreement to the contrary, a museum may
apply conservation measures to property on loan to the museum
without the lender's permission or formal notice if action is
required to protect the property on loan or other property in
the custody of the museum, or the property on loan is a hazard
to the health and safety of the public or the museum staff, and
either:
(1) the museum is unable to reach the lender at the
lender's last known address within three days before the time
the museum determines action is necessary; or
(2) the lender does not respond or will not agree to the
protective measures the museum recommends and does not terminate
the loan and retrieve the property within three days.
Subd. 2. [LIEN.] If a museum applies conservation measures
to property under this section, or with the agreement of the
lender, unless the agreement provides otherwise, the museum
acquires a lien on the property in the amount of the costs
incurred by the museum.
Subd. 3. [LIABILITY.] The museum is not liable for injury
to or loss of the property if the museum:
(1) had a reasonable belief at the time the action was
taken that the action was necessary to protect the property on
loan or other property in the custody of the museum, or that the
property on loan was a hazard to the health and safety of the
public or the museum staff; and
(2) exercised reasonable care in the choice and application
of conservation measures.
Sec. 6. [TITLE.]
This act shall be known as "The Minnesota Museum Property
Act."
Presented to the governor May 15, 2004
Signed by the governor May 19, 2004, 9:45 a.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes