214.14.
(a) For purposes of this section, “museum” means a public or private nonprofit entity or institution organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational or aesthetic purposes and that utilizes a professional staff, owns or utilizes tangible objects, cares for tangible objects, and exhibits those tangible objects to the public on a regular basis. “Museum” includes, but is not limited to, museums that have both tangible and digital collections, aquariums, arboretums, botanical gardens, art museums, children’s museums, general museums, historic houses and sites, history museums, nature centers, natural history
and anthropology museums, planetariums, science and technology centers, specialized museums, and zoological parks.(b) Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums and owned and operated by a religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable fund, foundation, limited liability company, or corporation which meets all the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 214 shall be deemed to be within the exemption provided by Sections 4 and 5 of Article XIII of the California Constitution and Section 214.
(c) For purposes of this section:
(1) Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums shall include property used for activities and facilities related to the primary
charitable purposes of museums and reasonably necessary and incidental to those purposes.
(2) Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums shall not be required to be indispensable to the primary charitable purposes of museums.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (d),
property Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums shall not include property used for activities and facilities not related to the primary charitable purposes of museums and not reasonably necessary or incidental to those purposes.
(4) Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums shall include property owned by a nonprofit association or organization performing auxiliary services to any city or county museum in the state and used for the storage of items donated for an annual rummage sale, the proceeds of which, after taking into account the expenses of the nonprofit association or organization, are used to provide support to those museums. For purposes of this subdivision, “storage of items donated
for an annual rummage sale” shall not be considered a “fundraising activity,” as that term is used in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 214.
(d)The assessor shall not deny a claim for the welfare exemption for property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums on the basis that the property is occasionally made available for private rentals as a service to the community if all of the following conditions are met:
(1)The property meets all of the requirements specified in subdivisions (b) and (c).
(2)The amount of rental fee charged is limited to the amount necessary to reimburse the religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable fund, foundation, limited liability company, or corporation for its costs in making the rental available, including, but not limited to, direct, personnel, and overhead costs.
(3)Any proceeds from the rental are used exclusively for the charitable
purposes of the museum.
(5) Property used exclusively for the charitable purposes of museums shall include property that a museum makes available for special events, including private rental events for its individual or corporate members, that provide access to the museum’s exhibitions, collections, or other educational offerings as part of the events, or that the museum makes available to other nonprofit or government organizations for charitable or governmental purposes, regardless of whether the museum charges any fee or receives charitable contributions in connection with those special events. These special event uses shall be considered to be related to the primary charitable purposes of museums and reasonably necessary or incidental to those purposes.
(e)
(d) The amendments made by the act adding this subdivision shall apply with respect to lien dates occurring on and after January 1, 2005.