(a) (1) A person who unlawfully and maliciously excavates upon, removes, destroys, injures, or defaces a Native American historic, cultural, or sacred site, that is listed or may be eligible for listing in the California Register of Historic Resources pursuant to Section 5024.1, including any historic or prehistoric ruins, any burial ground, any archaeological or historic site, any inscriptions made by Native Americans at such a site, any archaeological or historic Native American rock art, or any archaeological or historic feature of a Native American historic, cultural, or sacred site, is guilty of a misdemeanor if the act was committed with specific intent to vandalize, deface, destroy, steal, convert, possess, collect, or sell a Native American historic, cultural, or sacred artifact, art object, inscription, or feature, or site, and the act was committed as follows:

(A) On public land.

(B) On private land, by a person, other than the landowner, as described in subdivision (b).

(2) A violation of this section is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) This section does not apply to any of the following:

(1) An act taken in accordance with, or pursuant to, an agreement entered into pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 5097.94.

(2) An action taken pursuant to Section 5097.98.

(3) An act taken in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).

(4) An act taken in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq.).

(5) An act authorized under the Z’berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2 of Division 4).

(6) An action taken with respect to a conservation easement in accordance with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 815) of Division 2 of the Civil Code, or any similar nonperpetual enforceable restriction that has as its purpose the conservation, maintenance, or provision of physical access of Native Americans to one or more Native American historic, cultural, or sacred sites, or pursuant to a contractual agreement for that purpose to which most likely descendents of historic Native American inhabitants are signatories.

(7) An otherwise lawful act undertaken by the owner, or an employee or authorized agent of the owner acting at the direction of the owner, of land on which artifacts, sites, or other Native American resources covered by this section are found, including, but not limited to, farming, ranching, forestry, improvements, investigations into the characteristics of the property conducted in a manner that minimizes adverse impacts unnecessary to that purpose, and the sale, lease, exchange, or financing of real property.

(8) Research conducted under the auspices of an accredited postsecondary educational institution or other legitimate research institution on public land in accordance with applicable permitting requirements or on private land in accordance with otherwise applicable law.

(Added by renumbering Section 5097.995 by Stats. 2004, Ch. 286, Sec. 9. Effective January 1, 2005.)