Important museum pieces will be protected under rules adopted by the New York state Board of Regents.

The Regents approved new rules that would restrict the sale of museum pieces as facilities face continued hard fiscal times.

The rules would require proceeds from sales to be used for acquisitions and would also seek to keep museum relics and pieces in the public domain even if a museum shuts down.

Former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester says the rules will prohibit important cultural pieces being sold to private collectors in order to pay for operating expenses.

Brodsky, now a fellow at Wagner College on Staten Island, calls this an extraordinary moment in New York's cultural history.

Brodsky and the Legislature have sought the protections since the recession cut into museums' revenues.

—Copyright 2011 Associated Press