BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1225
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Date of Hearing: January 10, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 1225 (Committee on Veterans Affairs) - As Amended: January
4, 2012
SUBJECT : Cemeteries: veteran's commemorative property.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the sale, trade or transfer of all or any
part of a veteran's commemorative property (Property), if
certain conditions are met. Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits the purchase, sale or transfer of Property, unless
otherwise exempted.
2)Authorizes an unincorporated association, cemetery
corporation, or religious corporation, except a municipal
corporation, as specified, that owns or controls a cemetery
where any Property has been placed to petition the Cemetery
and Funeral Bureau (Bureau) for permission to sell, trade or
transfer all or any part of the Property.
3)Authorizes the Bureau to approve the sale, trade or transfer
of the Property under the following conditions:
a) The Property is at reasonable risk of physically
deteriorating, as specified, and will be replaced at its
original site by a fitting replacement that appropriately
identifies and commemorates the veteran or group of
veterans;
b) The Property is proposed to be sold, traded, or
transferred to a suitable person that will preserve its
current condition and place the Property in a suitable
place that will commemorate the veteran or group of
veterans;
c) The petitioner needs to sell, trade, or transfer the
Property to ensure that sufficient funds are available to
suitably maintain the cemetery and the specified lot, plot,
grave, burial place, niche, crypt, or other place of
interment of a veteran or group of veterans, so that the
place will retain the respect that these hallowed places
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deserve;
d) If the Property to be sold, traded, or transferred is
reasonably known to the petitioner to have been donated to
the petitioner by any veterans' organization, the sale,
trade, or transfer shall have been consented to by that
veterans' organization;
e) If the petitioner is not the owner of Property that is
to be sold, traded, or transferred, the petitioner is
authorized by the owner of Property to engage in the sale,
trade, or transfer; or,
f) By operation of any other law authorizing the sale,
trade or transfer of the Property.
4)Requires the Bureau to fix a date, time, and place of the
hearing, not exceeding 100 days after the petition is
received.
5)Provides that at the hearing, the following persons and
entities, or their representatives may be heard:
a) The petitioner;
b) Any person, other than the petitioner, who is the owner
of the Property in question;
c) Any veterans' organization that donated the Property in
question to the petitioner;
d) The family of each veteran at whose lot, plot, grave,
burial place, niche, crypt, or other place of interment the
Property in question is or was placed;
e) The division of Veterans Services within the Department
of Veterans Affairs;
f) The Department of Parks and Recreation; and,
g) Any other member of the public who would like to offer
written or oral testimony.
6)Requires the Bureau to render its decision in writing within
60 days of the hearing and forward a copy of the decision to
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each person who appeared at the hearing.
7)Provides that an order or determination of the Bureau granting
the petition may specify the manner in which the petitioner is
to use or apply the proceeds of the sale, trade, or transfer.
8)Provides that if the petitioner is an unincorporated
association or corporation subject to the Nonprofit
Corporation Law, as specified, the Bureau is authorized to
direct the petitioner to deposit the proceeds of the sale,
trade, or transfer in the permanent maintenance fund
maintained by the petitioner pursuant to the Nonprofit
Corporation Law.
9)Authorizes the Bureau to adopt any regulations related to
petitions, hearings, and procedures to further the purposes of
this bill.
10)Specifies that a person violating any provision of this bill
is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no less
than $100 or more than $1,000; or by imprisonment in a county
jail for no less than 10 days or more than six months; or, by
both that fine and imprisonment; and, in addition is liable
for all costs, expenses, and disbursements paid or incurred by
the person prosecuting the case.
11)Defines the following terms:
a) "Veteran" to mean a living or deceased person who:
i) Either served in the active military or naval
service of the United States (U.S.) during a war in which
the U.S. was engaged, or served in active duty in a force
of any organized state militia, not including the
inactive National Guard (NG) and not including the
California NG when in an inactive, full-time status; and,
ii) Was released from service otherwise than by
dishonorable discharge or was furloughed to the reserve.
b) "Veteran's commemorative property" to mean any monument,
headstone, marker, memorial, plaque, statue, vase, urn,
decoration, flag holder, badge, shield, item of
memorabilia, or other embellishment that:
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i) Is over 50 years old;
ii) Identities or commemorates any veteran or group of
veterans, including, but not limited to, any veterans'
organization or any military unit, company, battalion, or
division; and,
iii) Has been placed in any cemetery.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Bureau within the Department of Consumer
Affairs.
2)Prohibits a cemetery owned and operated by a city, county, or
city and county from engaging in the business of selling
monuments or markers, and also prohibits the cemetery's
officers and employees who manage, operate, or otherwise
maintain the cemetery from engaging in the private business of
selling monuments or markets.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author, "In recent
years, a market has developed for veteran commemorative cemetery
property. This property includes monuments, headstones,
markers, memorials, and plaques. They have become very valuable
in the antiques market, and this has led to thieves stealing
them from cemeteries. It started with Civil War property but
has progressed to include property from the Vietnam War era.
Additionally, some property is targeted because of the metal
contained in it and later sold as scrap metal.
"This bill prohibits the unauthorized sale, purchase, or
transfer of any veteran commemorative cemetery property that is
over 50 years old if such property is currently placed or
located within a cemetery. The bill does allow authorized sales
of the property through the Bureau."
Background . Metal theft has become increasingly common as
prices for metals have recently risen dramatically. Commonly
stolen metals include copper, aluminum, brass, and bronze.
Thieves recently stole copper plaques commemorating Veterans
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from a Long Beach cemetery.
This bill seeks to prevent the theft of Property by making the
sale or transfer of these items illegal.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301