BILL NUMBER: AB 2796	CHAPTERED  07/24/06

	CHAPTER  124
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 24, 2006
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 24, 2006
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 26, 2006
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  APRIL 20, 2006
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 27, 2006

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mountjoy

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2006

   An act to amend Sections 8585 and 8741 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to cemeteries.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2796, Mountjoy  Cemeteries: public notice.
   Existing law requires that a cemetery authority post prescribed
public notices on the premises of a cemetery containing, among other
things, the address of the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.
   This bill would, instead, require that the notice provide either
the address of the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau or a statement that
the address of the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau is available at the
office of the cemetery. The bill would make additional changes of a
technical, nonsubstantive nature.
   Existing law requires an endowment care cemetery to post a notice
identifying it as an endowment care cemetery in its sales office or
offices and at or near its entrance or its administrative building.
   This bill would delete the requirement that the notice be posted
in the sales office or offices and would, instead, require that the
notice be posted at or near its entrance and at its administrative
building.


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


  SECTION 1.  Section 8585 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   8585.  (a) Whenever ownership of any cemetery authority is
proposed to be transferred, the cemetery authority shall notify the
Cemetery and Funeral Bureau in the Department of Consumer Affairs. A
change in ownership, for purposes of this section, shall be deemed to
occur whenever more than 50 percent of the equitable ownership of a
cemetery authority is transferred in a single transaction or in a
related series of transactions to one or more persons, associations,
or corporations. The notice shall specify the address of the
principal offices of the cemetery authority, and whether it will be
changed or unchanged, and shall specify the name and address of each
new owner and the stockholders thereof.
   (b) Notice of the change of ownership shall be published in a
newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the cemetery
is located. The notice shall specify the address of the principal
offices of the cemetery authority, whether changed or unchanged, and
shall specify the name and address of each new owner and each
stockholder owning more than 5 percent of the stock of each new
owner.
   (c) If there is a change of ownership pursuant to this section,
the existing certificate of authority shall lapse and a new
certificate of authority shall be obtained from the Cemetery and
Funeral Bureau. No person shall purchase a cemetery, including
purchase at a sale for delinquent taxes, or purchase more than 50
percent of the equitable ownership of a cemetery authority without
having obtained a certificate of authority from the Cemetery and
Funeral Bureau prior to the purchase of the cemetery or the ownership
interest in the cemetery authority.
   (d) Every cemetery authority shall post and continuously maintain
at each public entrance to the cemetery a sign specifying the current
name and address of the cemetery authority, a statement that the
name and address of each director and officer of the cemetery
authority may be obtained by contacting the Cemetery and Funeral
Bureau of the State of California, and shall have either of the
following:
   (1) The address of the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.
   (2) A statement that the address of the Cemetery and Funeral
Bureau is available at the office of the cemetery.
   (e) The signs shall be at least 16 inches high and 24 inches wide
and shall be prominently mounted upright and vertical.
   (f) The Cemetery and Funeral Bureau shall suspend the certificate
of authority of any cemetery authority which is in violation of the
sign or public notice requirements of this section. The certificate
may be reinstated only upon compliance with these requirements.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8741 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   8741.  Each endowment care cemetery shall post in a conspicuous
place at or near the entrance of the cemetery and at its
administration building and readily accessible to the public, a
legible sign that shall contain the following information in the
order and manner set forth below:
   (a) A heading containing the words "endowment care"--which shall
appear in a minimum of one-inch letters.
   (b) The statement, "This is an endowment care interment property."