BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1291 HEARING: 4/2/14
AUTHOR: Nielsen FISCAL: No
VERSION: 2/21/14 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Weinberger
HALCUMB CEMETERY DISTRICT
Allows the Halcumb Cemetery District to inter nonresidents
under specified conditions.
Background and Existing Law
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 district's board of
trustees, composed of three to five registered voters from
within the districts' boundaries. Cemetery districts
finance their operations with small shares of local
property tax revenues, by selling interment rights, and by
charging for services.
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 (SB 1906, Johnson,
1982). When it revised the Public Cemetery District Law,
the Legislature retained Oroville's special provision (SB
341, Senate Local Government Committee, 2003). 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, Jeffries, 2010). In 2011, to facilitate a group
purchase of cemetery plots by members of the Congregation
Bet Haverim Synagogue, the Legislature allowed the Davis
Cemetery District to inter up to 500 nonresidents under
SB 1291 -- 2/21/14 -- Page 2
specified conditions (AB 966, Yamada, 2011). In 2012, to
help the Anderson, Cottonwood, and Silveyville cemetery
districts overcome the ongoing loss of business to nearby
veteran's cemeteries, the Legislature allowed them an
exemption from the state law restricting non-resident
burials (SB 1131, La Malfa, 2012). Last year, the
Legislature granted the Kern River Valley cemetery an
exemption from the state law restricting non-resident
burials (SB 159, Fuller, 2013).
The Halcumb Cemetery District serves residents in a 214,761
acre area in Central Shasta County, including the Round
Mountain, Montgomery Creek, and Big Bend communities.
Formed in 1935, the District provides perpetual care and
maintenance to two sites. Cove Cemetery is a one acre site
that has been closed to new burials for decades. Halcumb
Cemetery has 13 developed acres out of 26 total acres. The
District performs 15-20 interments per year and has no
estimate of when the Halcumb Cemetery site will reach
capacity. The District has one employee. Its Fiscal Year
2012-13 budget was $60,730. In 2005, the state dedicated
the Northern California Veterans Cemetery, which is located
less than 50 miles southwest of the Halcumb Cemetery.
During the most recent complete fiscal year, the Northern
California Veterans Cemetery performed 557 burials. After
the veterans' cemetery opened nearby, annual interments in
the Halcumb Cemetery District decreased, creating
significant fiscal challenges for the District.
To help the Halcumb Cemetery District overcome the ongoing
loss of business to the nearby veteran's cemetery, district
officials want the Legislature to grant the District an
exemption from the state law restricting non-resident
burials.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 1291 allows the Halcumb Cemetery District to
inter in the ground or a columbarium up to 40 people per
calendar year who are neither residents nor property
taxpayers in any cemetery district and who do not otherwise
qualify for interment under the state law governing public
cemetery districts' interment of eligible nonresidents, if:
SB 1291 -- 2/21/14 -- Page 3
The board of trustees determines that the
District's cemetery has adequate space for the
foreseeable future;
The District has an endowment care fund that
requires a contribution for every interment of at
least a minimum payment as prescribed by law; and
The District requires the payment of a non-resident
fee, as set by law.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . Although statewide laws attempt
to embrace a wide variety of local conditions and
circumstances, legislators can't anticipate every local
need. Responding to a special request nearly 30 years ago,
the Legislature allowed the Oroville Cemetery District to
bury nonresidents, if three conditions existed. In recent
years, the Legislature approved similar exceptions for six
other districts. To help the Halcumb Cemetery District
overcome fiscal challenges, SB 1291 provides the District
with an exception similar to those granted to other
districts.
2. Precedent and limits . The Halcumb Cemetery District is
not the only public cemetery district that faces challenges
because of its proximity to recently opened veterans
cemeteries. The federal government also recently
established the Bakersfield National Cemetery (Kern
County), Sacramento Valley National Cemetery (Solano
County), and Miramar National Cemetery (San Diego County).
SB 1291 builds on the precedent set by SB 1131 (LaMalfa,
2012) and SB 159 (Fuller, 2013). Changing state law to
help the Halcumb Cemetery District will likely invite
similar proposals from other cemetery districts that are
located near veterans' cemeteries. SB 1291 lays the
groundwork for incrementally exempting many more public
cemetery districts from the statutory restrictions on
nonresident interment. To limit the number of districts
that may seek an exemption, the Committee may wish to
SB 1291 -- 2/21/14 -- Page 4
consider amending SB 1291 to apply the exemption only to
districts within 50 miles of the exterior boundaries of a
veteran's cemetery.
3. Rethinking nonresident interment . Many public cemetery
districts are struggling financially. The loss of business
to veterans' cemeteries is only one of many factors that
contribute to these districts' fiscal plight. Districts
have lost property tax revenues both because of decreases
in the assessed value of real property and the Educational
Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) shifts, which reallocated
some districts' property taxes to benefit schools.
Cemetery districts' revenues also have been reduced by a
shift in funeral practices. Cremation, which is less
expensive than burial, is becoming more common. In light
of the numerous fiscal challenges facing public cemeteries,
revenues from nonresident burials could offer significant
financial benefits to districts that are struggling to
continue providing cemetery services. As an alternative to
exempting cemetery districts one at a time, or exempting
only those located near veterans' cemeteries, legislators
may wish to reconsider the statutory prohibition against
public cemeteries' interring nonresidents.
Support and Opposition (3/27/14)
Support : Halcumb Cemetery District.
Opposition : Cemetery and Mortuary Association of
California; Public
CemeteryAlliance.