(a) Not less than 11 percent of the funds authorized in paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of Section 5096.310 shall be available as grants on a competitive basis to cities, counties, and nonprofit organizations for the development or rehabilitation of real property consisting of urban recreational and cultural centers, museums, and facilities for wildlife education or environmental education.
(b) To be eligible for funding, a project shall initially be nominated by a Member of the Legislature for study by the department.
(c) In establishing priorities of projects, the department shall consider any favorable project characteristics, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) The project will interpret one or more important California historical, cultural, economic, or resource themes or an important historical, cultural, economic, technological, or resource theme in a major region of California. Higher priority shall be assigned to projects whose themes are not interpreted in any existing museum or have demonstrable deficiencies in their presentation in an existing museum.
(2) The project is proposed to be operated on lands that are already in public ownership or on lands that will be acquired and used for the project in conjunction with adjoining public lands.
(3) Projects that are closely related geographically to the resources, activity, structure, place, or collection of objects to be interpreted, and are close to population centers and access routes.
(4) Projects that are in, or close to, population centers or are adjacent to, or readily served by, a state highway or other mode of public transportation.
(5) Projects for which there are commitments, or the serious likelihood of commitments, of funds or the donation of land or other property suitable for the project.
(d) The department shall annually forward a list of the highest priority projects to the Department of Finance for inclusion in the Budget Bill.
(e) An application for a grant for a cooperative museum project shall be submitted jointly by the city, county, or other public agency, an institute of higher learning, or a nonprofit organization that cooperatively is operating, or will operate, the project.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 728, Sec. 144. (SB 71) Effective January 1, 2013. Approved in Proposition 12 at the March 7, 2000, election.)