(20 ILCS 801/1-25)

Sec. 1-25. Powers of the State Museum. In addition to its other powers and duties, the Department shall have the following powers and duties which shall be performed by the State Museum:

(1) To investigate and study the natural resources of the State and to prepare printed reports and furnish information fundamental to the conservation and development of natural resources and for that purpose the officers and employees thereof may, pursuant to rule adopted by the Department, enter and cross all lands in this State, doing no damage to private property.

(2) To cooperate with and advise departments having administrative powers and duties relating to the natural resources of the State, and to cooperate with similar departments in other states and with the United States Government.

(3) To cooperate with the Illinois State Academy of Science and to publish a suitable number of the results of the investigations and research in the field of natural science to the end that the same may be distributed to the interested public.

(4) To maintain a State Museum, and to collect and preserve objects of scientific and artistic value, representing past and present fauna and flora, the life and work of man, geological history, natural resources, and the manufacturing and fine arts; to interpret for and educate the public concerning the foregoing.

(5) To cooperate with the Illinois State Museum Society for the mutual benefit of the Museum and the Society, with the Museum furnishing necessary space for the Society to carry on its functions and keep its records, and, upon the recommendation of the Museum Director with the approval of the Board of State Museum Advisors and the Director of the Department, to enter into agreements with the Illinois State Museum Society for the operation of a sales counter and other concessions for the mutual benefit of the Museum and the Society.

(6) To accept grants of property and to hold property to be administered as part of the State Museum for the purpose of preservation, research of interpretation of significant areas within the State for the purpose of preserving, studying and interpreting archaeological and natural phenomena.

(7) To contribute to and support the operations, programs and capital development of public museums in this State. For the purposes of this Section, "public museum" means a facility: (A) that is operating for the purposes of promoting cultural development through special activities or programs or through performing arts that are performed in an indoor setting, and acquiring, conserving, preserving, studying, interpreting, enhancing, and in particular, organizing and continuously exhibiting specimens, artifacts, articles, documents and other things of historical, anthropological, archaeological, industrial, scientific or artistic import, to the public for its instruction and enjoyment, and (B) that either (i) is operated by or located upon land owned by a unit of local government or (ii) is a museum that has an annual attendance of at least 150,000 and offers educational programs to school groups during school hours. A museum is eligible to receive funds for capital development under this subdivision (7) only if it is operated by or located upon land owned by a unit of local government or if it is certified by a unit of local government in which it is located as a public museum meeting the criteria of this Section. Recipients of funds for capital development under this subdivision (7) shall match State funds with local or private funding according to the following:

(a) for a public museum with an attendance of 300,000 or less during the preceding calendar year, no match is required;

(b) for a public museum with an attendance of over 300,000 but less than 600,000 during the preceding calendar year, the match must be at a ratio of $1 from local and private funds for every $1 in State funds; and

(c) for a public museum with an attendance of over 600,000 during the preceding calendar year, the match must be at a ratio of $2 from local and private funds for every $1 in State funds.

The Department shall formulate rules and regulations relating to the allocation of any funds appropriated by the General Assembly for the purpose of contributing to the support of public museums in this State.

(8) To perform all other duties and assume all obligations of the former Department of Energy and Natural Resources and the former Department of Registration and Education pertaining to the State Museum.

(9) To work in collaboration with the Division of Historic Preservation of the Department in the exercise of all the rights, powers, and duties conferred upon the Department under the Historic Preservation Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-1005, eff. 5-27-22.)