§ 233-aa. Property of other museums. 1. As used in this section:\n (a) The term "museum" means any institution, including but not limited\nto museums, historical societies, zoological gardens, aquariums,\nbotanical gardens, and arboreta, having collecting as a stated purpose\nin its charter, or owning or holding collections, or intending to own or\nhold collections, that is a governmental entity or not-for-profit\ncorporation. The term museum does not include the state museum.\n (b) The term "deaccession" means the permanent removal or disposal of\nproperty from the collection of a museum by virtue of its sale,\nexchange, donation, or transfer by any means to any person.\n (c) The term "person" means any natural person, partnership,\ncorporation, company, trust association, or other entity, however\norganized.\n (d) The term "property" means any inanimate object, document,\norganism, or tangible object under a museum's care which has intrinsic\nhistoric, artistic, scientific, or cultural value.\n (e) The term "loan" means a deposit of property with a museum not\naccompanied by a transfer to such museum of title to the property.\n (f) The term "lender" means a person legally entitled to, or claiming\nto be legally entitled to, property held by the museum or, if such\nperson is deceased, the legal heirs of such person.\n (g) The term "unclaimed property" means property which is on loan to a\nmuseum and in regard to which the lender, or anyone acting legitimately\non the lender's behalf, has not contacted the museum for at least ten\nyears from the date of the beginning of the loan, if the loan was for an\nindefinite or undetermined period, or for at least five years after the\ndate upon which the loan for a definite period expired.\n (h) The term "undocumented property" means property that has been in\nthe possession of a museum for at least ten years and for which the\nmuseum cannot determine the lender, donor, or owner by making a good\nfaith and reasonable search for the identity and last known address of\nthe lender, donor or owner from the museum records and other records\nreasonably available to museum staff.\n (i) The term "conservation measures" means any actions taken to\npreserve or stabilize a property, including, but not limited to, proper\nstorage, support, cleaning, and restoration.\n 2. The acquisition of property by a museum pursuant to this section\nmust be consistent with the mission of the museum.\n 3. Prior to the acquisition of property by gift, a museum shall inform\na donor or prospective donor of the provisions of this section and shall\nprovide a donor or prospective donor with a written copy of its mission\nstatement and collections policy, which shall include policies and\nprocedures of the museum related to deaccessioning.\n 4. If the museum has knowledge of a planned bequest of any property\nprior to the death of the testator, the museum shall provide the\ntestator with a written copy of its mission statement and collections\npolicy, which shall include policies and procedures of the museum\nrelating to deaccessioning, provided, however, that any museum that\nroutinely makes its mission statement and collections policy available\non its website shall be deemed to have complied with this subdivision.\n 5. Proceeds derived from the sale of any property title to which was\nacquired by a museum pursuant to this section shall be used only for the\nacquisition of property for the museum's collection or for the\npreservation, protection, and care of the collection and shall not be\nused to defray ongoing operating expenses of the museum.\n 6. (a) Notice by mail required by this section shall be mailed to a\nlender's last known address by certified mail, return receipt requested;\nprovided, however, that notice shall be given by publication pursuant to\nparagraph (b) of this subdivision if the museum does not:\n (i) know the identity of the lender; or\n (ii) know the address of the lender; or
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