2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 25 — Libraries, museums, and other scientific
RS 25:342 — Domicile; powers and duties of the office of the state museum and the board; buildings and properties administered

§342. Domicile; powers and duties of the office of the state museum and the board; buildings and properties administered

A.(1) The board of directors shall meet once each quarter, unless additional meetings are called by the lieutenant governor, the secretary of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, the chairman of the board, or a quorum of the board.

(2) The board shall adopt bylaws establishing policies and procedures for its governance, including but not limited to the following:

(a) The election and responsibilities of the board's officers, including a chairman and vice chairman to serve terms of two years;

(b) The selection, term, compensation, and responsibilities of advisors to the board; and

(c) The creation, appointment, compensation, duties, and functions of standing or special committees of the board.

(3) A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of official business. All official actions of the board shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of the members present and voting.

(4) The board shall establish and use an identifying seal pertaining to museum business. The board shall not authorize reports and recommendations which include the issue, publication, or distribution of general information documents or pamphlets, which are published on a regular basis and are generally known as newsletters.

(5) The museum shall be open to the public. The assistant secretary of the office of the state museum may establish in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act admission and tour fees and user or rental fees for any or all museum buildings and exhibits to be charged by the museum. Such user or rental fees shall reflect the actual cost of maintenance of the space rented and the market rates for comparable space in the locality of the space rented.

(6) The office of the state museum, through the assistant secretary and in cooperation with nonprofit corporations established to support the Louisiana State Museum, may seek private funding to support the museum's programs.

(7) The office of the state museum, through the assistant secretary, shall have authority to contract with consulting experts in the fields of museum administration and conservation of paintings, books and papers, and other decorative arts, and with appraisers, buying agents, designers, engineers, attorneys, accountants, construction and financial experts, and other such persons as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the museum.

(8) Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary and in particular the provisions of R.S. 25:349(B)(5) and R.S. 41:1212, the office of the state museum, through the assistant secretary, may enter into contracts and agreements with any public agency or nonprofit corporation which has been established for the primary purpose of supporting the programs and activities of the Louisiana State Museum, including the Friends of the Cabildo, Friends of the Museums of Local Interest, Friends of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, the Wedell-Williams Memorial Foundation, and the Louisiana Museum Foundation, for the establishment of offices, stores, or exhibits on the property and in the buildings of the museum. The office of the state museum, through the assistant secretary, may also enter into contracts and agreements for joint construction, equipment, maintenance, and financing of such buildings, and may enter into contracts and agreements for the joint financing, supervision, and conduct of cooperative enterprises and undertakings. Any public agency may enter into contracts and agreements with the office of the state museum for the purposes provided in this Paragraph.

B.(1) The domicile of the board shall be the city of New Orleans, provided that the office of the state museum may establish additional offices within such museum facilities as it may deem advisable.

(2) The board shall advise the secretary of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and the assistant secretary of the office of the state museum with respect to policies for the state museum. The board shall continue to exercise its powers, duties, and functions with respect to accessions, deaccessions, loans, and conservation of museum properties and collections in accordance with professional museum practices as established by the American Association of Museums, except as otherwise provided by law; and the members thereof shall continue to serve as trustees for the William Irby Trust.

(3) The office of the state museum, subject to the provisions of R.S. 36:909, shall have custody of and shall administer, manage, operate, maintain, and preserve all of the following:

(a) The buildings, collections, and exhibitions of the Louisiana State Museum complex located in the city of New Orleans, including but not limited to the Cabildo, the Presbytere, the Lower Pontalba Building, the Jackson House, the Creole House, the Arsenal, Madame John's Legacy, and the Old United States Mint in New Orleans.

(b) The Wedell-Williams Memorial Aviation Museum in Patterson.

(c) The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame.

(d) The Louisiana Forestry Museum.

(e) The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

(f) The Winn Parish Museum.

(g) The Edward Douglass White Historic Site.

(h) The Natchitoches Parish Old Courthouse Museum.

(i) Other museums hereafter established under jurisdiction of the office.

C.(1) For the prompt and efficient transaction of business, the board may create from its membership an executive committee which shall consist of the chairman and vice chairman of the board and such additional members as shall be provided in bylaws of the board. The executive committee shall have full authority to act for the board at any scheduled board meeting at which a quorum is not present. The members shall record the proceedings of each meeting of the executive committee.

(2) A majority of the members of the executive committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

(3) The executive committee shall meet in those months in which the board does not meet or at the call of the chairman.

(4) The executive committee shall consider such matters as are referred to it by the board. It shall execute such orders and resolutions as shall be assigned to it at any meeting of the board, and it shall also take such action as is necessary when an emergency requiring immediate action arises during the interim between board meetings. All acts of the executive committee shall be submitted to the board for ratification or rejection at its next meeting except acts on which the board has delegated to the executive committee full power to act and acts taken at a meeting held because a quorum of the board was not present for a board meeting.

D. The Louisiana State Museum shall cooperate with Louisiana schools and institutions of higher learning in the teaching of Louisiana history and culture.

E. Except as otherwise provided by law, the board and the professional staff of the Louisiana State Museum shall be governed by the standard of museum ethics as promulgated by the American Association of Museums. The board may adopt such further standards of ethics as it deems to be in the best interest of the museum.

F. Repealed by Acts 1997, No. 318, §3, eff. June 18, 1997.

Acts 1983, No. 687, §4; Acts 1986, No. 822, §1; Acts 1987, No. 415, §1; Acts 1990, No. 726, §1; Acts 1991, No. 9, §1, eff. June 6, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 318, §§1, 3, eff. June 18, 1997; Acts 2003, No. 1205, §1, eff. July 3, 2003; Acts 2008, No. 908, §1.