(a) A California Register of Historical Resources is hereby established. The California Register is an authoritative guide in California to be used by state and local agencies, private groups, and citizens to identify the state’s historical resources and to indicate what properties are to be protected, to the extent prudent and feasible, from substantial adverse change. The commission shall oversee the administration of the California Register.

(b) The California Register shall include historical resources determined by the commission, according to procedures adopted by the commission, to be significant and to meet the criteria in subdivision (c).

(c) A resource may be listed as an historical resource in the California Register if it meets any of the following National Register of Historic Places criteria:

(1) Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of California’s history and cultural heritage.

(2) Is associated with the lives of persons important in our past.

(3) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction, or represents the work of an important creative individual, or possesses high artistic values.

(4) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

(d) The California Register shall include the following:

(1) California properties formally determined eligible for, or listed in, the National Register of Historic Places.

(2) State Historical Landmark No. 770 and all consecutively numbered state historical landmarks following No. 770. For state historical landmarks preceding No. 770, the office shall review their eligibility for the California Register in accordance with procedures to be adopted by the commission.

(3) Points of historical interest which have been reviewed by the office and recommended for listing by the commission for inclusion in the California Register in accordance with criteria adopted by the commission.

(e) If nominated for listing in accordance with subdivision (f), and determined to be significant by the commission, the California Register may include the following:

(1) Individual historical resources.

(2) Historical resources contributing to the significance of an historic district under criteria adopted by the commission.

(3) Historical resources identified as significant in historical resources surveys, if the survey meets the criteria listed in subdivision (g).

(4) Historical resources and historic districts designated or listed as city or county landmarks or historic properties or districts pursuant to any city or county ordinance, if the criteria for designation or listing under the ordinance have been determined by the office to be consistent with California Register criteria adopted by the commission.

(5) Local landmarks or historic properties designated under any municipal or county ordinance.

(f) A resource may be nominated for listing as an historical resource in the California Register in accordance with nomination procedures adopted by the commission, subject to all of the following:

(1) If the applicant is not the local government in whose jurisdiction the resource is located, a notice of nomination in the form prescribed by the commission shall first be submitted by the applicant to the clerk of the local government. The notice shall request the local government to join in the nomination, to provide comments on the nomination, or if the local government declines to join in the nomination or fails to act upon the notice of nomination within 90 days, the nomination may be submitted to the office and shall include any comments of the local government.

(2) Prior to acting on the nomination of a survey, an individual resource, an historic district, or other resource to be added to the California Register, the commission shall notify property owners, the local government in which the resource is located, local agencies, other interested persons, and members of the general public of the nomination and provide not less than 60 calendar days for comment on the nomination. The commission shall consider those comments in determining whether to list the resource as an historical resource in the California Register.

(3) If the local government objects to the nomination, the commission shall give full and careful consideration to the objection before acting upon the nomination. Where an objection has been raised, the commission shall adopt written findings to support its determination concerning the nomination. At a minimum, the findings shall identify the historical or cultural significance of the resource, and, if applicable, the overriding significance of the resource that has resulted in the resource being listed in the California Register over the objections of the local government.

(4) If the owner of a private property or the majority of owners for an historic district or single property with multiple owners object to the nomination, the commission shall not list the property as an historical resource in the California Register until the objection is withdrawn. Objections shall be submitted to the commission by the owner of the private property in the form of a notarized statement certifying that the party is the sole or partial owner of the property, and that the party objects to the listing.

(5) If private property cannot be presently listed in the California Register solely because of owner objection, the commission shall nevertheless designate the property as eligible for listing.

(g) A resource identified as significant in an historical resource survey may be listed in the California Register if the survey meets all of the following criteria:

(1) The survey has been or will be included in the State Historic Resources Inventory.

(2) The survey and the survey documentation were prepared in accordance with office procedures and requirements.

(3) The resource is evaluated and determined by the office to have a significance rating of Category 1 to 5 on DPR Form 523.

(4) If the survey is five or more years old at the time of its nomination for inclusion in the California Register, the survey is updated to identify historical resources which have become eligible or ineligible due to changed circumstances or further documentation and those which have been demolished or altered in a manner that substantially diminishes the significance of the resource.

(h) Upon listing an historical resource or determining that a property is an historical resource that is eligible for listing, in the California Register, the commission shall notify any owner of the historical resource and also the county and city in which the historical resource is located in accordance with procedures adopted by the commission.

(i) The commission shall adopt procedures for the delisting of historical resources which become ineligible for listing in the California Register.

(Added by Stats. 1992, Ch. 1075, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 1993.)