SB27 - Revises provisions relating to museums. (BDR 33-281)

- 83rd Session (2025) Senate Bill No. 27–Committee on Government Affairs CHAPTER.......... AN ACT relating to museums; changing the name of the Nevada State Museum to the Nevada State Museum Carson City; revising the powers and duties of the Board of Museums and History; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law establishes certain museums and historical societies as institutions of the Division of Museums and History of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. (NRS 381.004) Section 1 of this bill revises the name of one such museum by changing the name of the Nevada State Museum to the Nevada State Museum Carson City. Sections 4-11 of this bill make conforming changes to reflect the change in name. Existing law creates the Board of Museums and History and prescribes certain powers and duties of the Board relating to the functions of the Division. (NRS 381.002, 381.0045) Section 2 of this bill requires the Board to establish policies and charges for certain services provided by the Division and its institutions. Existing law requires the Administrator of the Division to authorize or require a museum director to: (1) establish certain programs deemed proper and necessary by the Administrator and the Board; and (2) house, preserve, care for and display or exhibit property received by an institution administered by the museum director. (NRS 381.0063) Section 3 of this bill removes the authority of the Board to make determinations regarding such programs and eliminates the requirement that actions related to property received by an institution be subject to the sole discretion of the Board. EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 381.004 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.004 1. The Division of Museums and History is hereby created in the Department. 2. The Division consists of the Office of the Administrator and a state system of museums consisting of the following museums and historical societies, which are hereby established as institutions of the Division: (a) The Nevada State Museum [;] Carson City; (b) The Lost City Museum; (c) The Nevada State Museum Las Vegas; (d) The Nevada Historical Society; (e) The East Ely Depot Museum; (f) The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City; and – 2 – - 83rd Session (2025) (g) The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City. 3. Each institution shall, in accordance with the duties assigned to it by the Administrator, collect, preserve and interpret the history, prehistory and natural history of this State. Sec. 2. NRS 381.0045 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.0045 The Board shall establish: 1. Categories of memberships in the institutions and the fees to be charged for the memberships. 2. Fees for admission to the institutions. Children under the age of 18 years must be admitted free of charge. 3. Fees for train rides provided by an institution. 4. Policies and charges for the incidental use, rental and lease of the buildings, equipment, fixtures and other property of the Division and its institutions. 5. Policies and charges for services provided by the Division and its institutions, including, without limitation, storage, curation, repair and conducting studies. Sec. 3. NRS 381.0063 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.0063 1. The Administrator shall, in accordance with any directive received from the Director pursuant to NRS 232.005, authorize or require each museum director to perform such duties set forth in subsections 2 and 3 as are necessary for the operation of the institution administered by the museum director, after giving consideration to: (a) The size and complexity of the programs the museum director is required to administer; (b) The number of personnel needed to carry out those programs; (c) Requirements for accreditation; and (d) Such other factors as are relevant to the needs of the institution and the Division. 2. The Administrator may authorize or require a museum director to: (a) Oversee duties related to the auditing and approval of all bills, claims and accounts of the institution administered by the museum director. (b) Receive, collect, exchange, preserve, house, care for, document, interpret, display and exhibit, particularly, but not exclusively, respecting the State of Nevada: (1) Samples of the useful and fine arts, sciences and industries, relics, memorabilia, products, works, records, rare and valuable articles and objects, including, without limitation, drawings, etchings, lithographs, photographs, paintings, statuary, – 3 – - 83rd Session (2025) sculpture, fabrics, furniture, implements, machines, geological and mineral specimens, precious, semiprecious and commercial minerals, metals, earths, gems and stones. (2) Books, papers, records and documents of historic, artistic, literary or industrial value or interest by reason of rarity, representative character or otherwise. (c) Collect, gather and prepare the natural history of Nevada and the Great Basin. (d) Establish such programs in history, archeology, anthropology, paleontology, mineralogy, ethnology, ornithology and such other programs as in the judgment of the [Board and] Administrator may be proper and necessary to carry out the objects and purposes appropriate to the institution administered by the museum director. (e) Receive and collect property from any appropriate agency of the State of Nevada, or from accessions, gifts, exchanges, loans or purchases from any other agencies, persons or sources. (f) House and preserve, care for and display or exhibit property received by an institution. This paragraph does not prevent the permanent or temporary retention, placement, housing or exhibition of a portion of the property in other places or locations in or outside of the State . [at the sole discretion of the Board.] (g) Make and obtain plans and specifications and let and supervise contracts for work or have the work done on force account or day labor, supplying material or labor, or otherwise. (h) Receive, accept and obtain by exchange in the name of the State of Nevada all property loaned to the institution administered by the museum director for preservation, care, display or exhibit, or decline and reject the property in his or her discretion, and undertake to be responsible for all property loaned to the institution or make just payment of any reasonable costs or rentals therefor. (i) Apply for and expend all gifts and grants that the institution administered by the museum director is authorized to accept in accordance with the terms and conditions of the gift or grant. (j) Govern, manage and control the exhibit and display of all property and things of the institution administered by the museum director at other exhibits, expositions, world’s fairs and places of public or private exhibition. Any property of the State of Nevada that may be placed on display or on exhibition at any world’s fair or exposition must be taken into custody by the Administrator at the conclusion of the world’s fair or exposition and placed and kept in the institution, subject to being removed and again exhibited at the – 4 – - 83rd Session (2025) discretion of the Administrator or a person designated by the Administrator. (k) Negotiate and consult with and agree with other institutions, departments, officers and persons or corporations of and in the State of Nevada and elsewhere respecting quarters for and the preservation, care, transportation, storage, custody, documentation, interpretation, display and exhibit of articles and things controlled by the institutions and respecting the terms and cost, the manner, time, place and extent, and the return thereof. (l) Trade, exchange and transfer exhibits and duplicates when the Administrator deems it proper. Such transactions shall not be deemed sales. (m) Establish the qualifications for life, honorary, annual, sustaining and such other memberships as are established by the Board pursuant to NRS 381.0045. (n) Adopt rules for the internal operations of the institution administered by the museum director, including, without limitation, the operation of equipment of the institution. (o) Establish procedures that enable the accessibility of the exhibits in an institution administered by the museum director for persons who are blind or visually impaired, including, without limitation, by providing audio guides, audio descriptive displays, tactile displays and experiences, dedicated tours for persons who are blind or visually impaired, Braille signage and descriptions, temporary lighting and adapted educational classes. 3. The Administrator shall require a museum director to serve as, or to designate an employee to serve as, ex officio State Paleontologist. The State Paleontologist shall, within the limits of available time, money and staff: (a) Systematically inventory the paleontological resources within the State of Nevada; (b) Compile a database of fossil resources within this State; (c) Coordinate and promote paleontological research activities within this State, including, without limitation, regulating and issuing permits to engage in such activities; (d) Disseminate and assist other persons in disseminating information gained from research conducted by the State Paleontologist; and (e) Display and promote, and assist other persons in displaying and promoting, the paleontological resources of this State to enhance education, culture and tourism within this State. 4. The enumeration of the powers and duties that may be assigned to a museum director pursuant to this section is not – 5 – - 83rd Session (2025) exclusive of other general objects and purposes appropriate to a public museum. 5. The provisions of this section do not prohibit the Administrator from making such administrative and organizational changes as are necessary for the efficient operation of the Division and its institutions and to ensure that an institution properly carries out the duties and responsibilities assigned to that institution. Sec. 4. NRS 381.0068 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.0068 Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary: 1. A person is not required to obtain a permit pursuant to NRS 381.196 if the person has obtained a permit pursuant to federal law for the same purpose; and 2. The Administrator, Museum Director of the Nevada State Museum Carson City or the museum director of an institution are not required to provide notice to, consult with or return items to an Indian tribe as required pursuant to this chapter if the Administrator, Museum Director of the Nevada State Museum Carson City or the museum director [,] of the institution, as applicable, provides such notice to, consults with or returns items to the Indian tribe in accordance with the repatriation process required pursuant to federal law. Sec. 5. NRS 381.0069 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.0069 1. The Museum Director of the Nevada State Museum Carson City shall adopt regulations as necessary to carry out the provisions of NRS 381.0066 to 381.0069, inclusive, and 381.195 to 381.227, inclusive, including, without limitation, regulations which set forth the process for repatriation of prehistoric native Indian human remains and funerary objects. 2. Any regulations adopted pursuant to this section must be developed in consultation with Indian tribes and incorporate the values, beliefs and traditions of the Indian tribes as determined and conveyed by the members of the Indian tribes during the consultation with the Museum Director. Sec. 6. NRS 381.195 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.195 As used in NRS 381.195 to 381.227, inclusive: 1. “Historic” means from the middle of the 18th century until 50 years before the current year. 2. “Historic site” means a site, landmark or monument of historical significance pertaining to the history of the settlement of Nevada, or Indian campgrounds, shelters, petroglyphs, pictographs and burials. – 6 – - 83rd Session (2025) 3. “Museum Director” means the Museum Director of the Nevada State Museum [.] Carson City. 4. “Prehistoric” means before the middle of the 18th century. 5. “Prehistoric site” means any archeological or paleontological site, ruin, deposit, fossilized footprints and other impressions, petroglyphs and pictographs, habitation caves, rock shelters, natural caves, burial ground or sites of religious or cultural importance to an Indian tribe. Sec. 7. NRS 381.207 is hereby amended to read as follows: 381.207 1. The holder of a permit described in NRS 381.197, except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3, who does work upon aboriginal mounds and earthworks, ancient burial grounds, prehistoric sites, deposits of fossil bones or other archeological and vertebrate paleontological features within the State shall give to the State 50 percent of all articles, implements and materials found or discovered of which the holder retained possession after completion of the process set forth in subsection 4, to be deposited with the Nevada State Museum [,] Carson City, for exhibition or other use within the State as determined by the Museum Director. The Museum Director may accept less than 50 percent of such items. Upon receipt of items pursuant to this subsection, the Museum Director shall notify the Office of Historic Preservation. 2. The holder of a permit described in NRS 381.197 who does any such work within the State under the authority and direction of the Nevada Historical Society, the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas, or an institution or political subdivision of the State shall give 50 percent of all articles, implements and materials found or discovered of which the holder retained possession after completion of the process set forth in subsection 4, to the Society, institution or political subdivision. The holder of the permit may retain the other 50 percent. 3. If the Nevada Historical Society, the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas, or an institution or political subdivision of the State is the holder of the permit, it may retain all articles, implements and materials found or discovered of which it retained possession after completion of the process set forth in subsection 4. 4. If any of the articles, implements or materials found or discovered ar [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]