BILL NUMBER: AB 886	CHAPTERED  07/21/06

	CHAPTER  96
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 21, 2006
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 21, 2006
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  JUNE 29, 2006
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 26, 2006
	AMENDED IN SENATE  FEBRUARY 15, 2006
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2006

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Business and Professions (Negrete McLeod
(Chair), Shirley Horton (Vice Chair), Bass, Frommer, Koretz, Maze,
Nation, Tran, Vargas, and Yee)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2005

   An act to amend Section 7105 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to human remains.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 886, Committee on Business and Professions  Human remains:
disposition.
   Existing law provides that specified persons who otherwise have
the right to control the disposition of a decedent's remains and
arrange for funeral goods and services fail to act or cannot be found
within 7 days of the death, or in the case of a competent surviving
spouse who fails to act or cannot be found within 10 days of the
death, the right to control the disposition shall pass to the next
person or persons in accordance with the order of succession provided
by statute.
   This bill would instead provide that if the person or persons who
have the right to control the disposition of a decedent's remains and
arrange for funeral goods and services fail to act or cannot be
found within 7 days from the date when this right devolves to the
person or persons, or in the case of a competent surviving spouse
within 10 days of when the right devolves to him or her, the right
shall pass to the next person in accordance with the order of
succession provided by statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 7105 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   7105.  (a) If the person or persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3),
(4), (5), and (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 that would
otherwise have the right to control the disposition and arrange for
funeral goods and services fails to act, or fails to delegate his or
her authority to act to some other person within seven days of the
date when the right and duty devolves upon the person or persons, or
in the case of a person listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 7100, within 10 days of the date when the right and duty
devolves upon the person, the right to control the disposition and
arrange for funeral goods and services shall be relinquished and
passed on to the person or persons of the next degree of kinship in
accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 7100.
   (b) If the person or persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3), (4),
(5), and (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 that would otherwise
have the right to control the disposition and arrange for funeral
goods and services cannot be found within seven days of the date when
the right and duty devolves upon the person or persons, or in the
case of a person listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 7100, within 10 days of the date when the right and duty
devolves upon the person, after reasonable inquiry, the right to
control the disposition and arrange for funeral goods and services
shall be relinquished and passed on to the person or persons of the
next degree of kinship in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section
7100.
   (c) If any persons listed in paragraphs (1), (3), (4), (5), and
(6), of subdivision (a) of Section 7100 that would otherwise have
equal rights to control the disposition and arrange for funeral goods
and services fail to agree on disposition and funeral goods and
services to be provided within seven days of the date on which the
right and duty of disposition devolved upon the persons, a funeral
establishment or a cemetery authority having possession of the
remains, or any person who has equal right to control the disposition
of the remains may file a petition in the superior court in the
county in which the decedent resided at the time of his or her death,
or in which the remains are located, naming as a party to the action
those persons who would otherwise have equal rights to control the
disposition and seeking an order of the court determining, as
appropriate, who among those parties will have the control of
disposition and to direct that person to make interment of the
remains. The court, at the time of determining the person to whom the
right of disposition will vest, shall, from the remaining parties to
the action, establish an alternate order to whom the right to
control disposition will pass if the person vested with the right to
control disposition fails to act within seven days.
   (d) If the person vested with the duty of interment has criminal
charges pending against him or her for the unlawful killing of the
decedent, in violation of Section 187 of, or subdivision (a) or (b)
of Section 192 of, the Penal Code, the person or persons with the
next highest priority prescribed by Section 7100 may petition a court
of competent jurisdiction for an order for control of the
disposition of the decedent's remains. For this purpose, it shall be
conclusively presumed that the petitioner is the person entitled to
control the disposition of the remains if the petitioner is next in
the order of priority specified in Section 7100.