BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 966| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ CONSENT Bill No: AB 966 Author: Yamada (D) Amended: 6/13/11 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/22/11 AYES: Wolk, Huff, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez, Kehoe, La Malfa, Liu ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Public cemetery districts: nonresident burial SOURCE : Davis Cemetery District DIGEST : This bill allows the Davis Cemetery District to inter nonresidents under specified conditions. ANALYSIS : State law limits who may be buried in a district cemetery. Generally, cemetery districts can bury only residents, former residents, property taxpayers, former taxpayers, certain eligible nonresidents, and their family members. Responding to an Attorney General's opinion, the Legislature allowed the Oroville Cemetery District (Butte County) to inter up to 100 nonresidents in a former Jewish cemetery which the District had acquired. When it revised the Public Cemetery District Law, the Legislature retained CONTINUED AB 966 Page 2 Oroville's special provision (SB 341 ÝSenate Local Government Committee], Chapter 57, Statutes of 2003). Last year, the Legislature allowed the Elsinore Valley Cemetery District (Riverside County) to inter up to 536 nonresidents in a former Jewish cemetery, under specified conditions (AB 1969 ÝJeffries], Chapter 40, Statutes of 2010). This bill authorizes the Davis Cemetery District to inter up to a total of 500 interments of people who are neither residents nor property taxpayers in the District, if: 1. The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future; 2. The District has an endowment care fund that meets at least a minimum payment as prescribed by law; and 3. The District requires the payment of a non-resident fee, as set by law. Comments California's 253 public cemetery districts are separate local governments that operate cemeteries and provide interment services, mostly in rural areas and suburbs that were formerly rural communities. County boards of supervisors appoint the cemetery districts' boards of trustees, composed of three to five registered voters from within the districts' boundaries. The districts finance their operations with small shares of local property tax revenues, by selling interment rights, and by charging for services. Formed in 1922, the Davis Cemetery District (Yolo County) serves residents and property taxpayers within a 43 square mile service area, most of which is in the City of Davis. The District's 2005 Master Plan projects that the cemetery's 25 acres will serve the community's burial needs for the next 100 years. Congregation Bet Haverim is the only synagogue in Yolo County. Members of the synagogue, including several families from outside of the Davis Cemetery District, want to purchase a group of plots to supplement an existing CONTINUED AB 966 Page 3 Congregation Bet Haverim group of plots in the Davis Cemetery. To accommodate this purchase, Davis Cemetery District officials want the Legislature to grant the District an exemption from the statute restricting nonresident burials. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/23/11) Davis Cemetery District (source) Congregation Bet Haverim Jewish Community Relations Council ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Gorell AGB:kc 6/23/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED