BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1291 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1291 (Nielsen) As Introduced February 21, 2014 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :36-0 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Achadjian, Levine, Alejo, | | | | |Bradford, Gordon, | | | | |Melendez, Mullin, Rendon | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Allows the Halcumb Cemetery District to inter nonresidents under specified conditions. Specifically, this bill : 1)Extends to the Halcumb Cemetery District (District) in Shasta County, the authority already granted to the Cottonwood Cemetery District (Shasta County), the Anderson Cemetery District (Shasta County), the Silveyville Cemetery District (Solano County) and the Kern River Valley Cemetery District (Kern County), to use its cemetery for up to a total of 400 interments each, not to exceed 40 interments per calendar year, for the interment in the ground or columbarium of any person who is not a resident or a property taxpayer of the cemetery district, if the following conditions are met: a) The board of trustees determines that the District's cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future; b) The District has an endowment care fund that requires a contribution for every interment of at least the minimum amount set pursuant to existing law; and, c) The District requires the payment of a nonresident fee set pursuant to existing law. 2)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary because of the unique circumstances pertaining to the District. EXISTING LAW : SB 1291 Page 2 1)States that a cemetery district shall limit interments to the following: a) Persons who are residents of the cemetery district; b) Persons who are former residents of the cemetery district and who acquired interment rights while they were residents of the district; c) Persons who pay property taxes on property located in the cemetery district; d) Persons who formerly paid property taxes on property located in the cemetery district and who acquired interment rights while they paid those property taxes; e) Eligible nonresidents of the cemetery district, as provided; or, f) Persons who are family members of any person described in this section. 2)Allows the Cottonwood, Anderson, Silveyville, and Kern River Valley cemetery districts to use their cemeteries for up to a total of 400 interments each, not to exceed 40 interments each per calendar year, for interment in the ground or a columbarium of any person who is not a resident or a property taxpayer of any cemetery district, and who does not qualify for that interment pursuant to existing law, if all of the following apply: a) The board of trustees determines that the district's cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future; b) The cemetery district has an endowment care fund that requires a contribution for every interment of at least the minimum amount set pursuant to existing law; and, c) The cemetery district requires the payment of a nonresident fee set pursuant to existing law. 3)Authorizes the Oroville Cemetery District to use its cemetery on Feather River Boulevard, for up to a total of 100 SB 1291 Page 3 interments, for interment in the ground of any non-residents, the Elsinore Valley Cemetery District to use a portion of its cemetery for up to a total of 536 interments for nonresidents, and the Davis Cemetery District to use its cemetery for up to a total of 500 interments, for interment in the ground of any nonresident, if all of the following apply: a) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future; b) The cemetery district has an endowment care fund that requires a contribution for every interment of at least the minimum amount set pursuant to existing law; and, c) The cemetery district requires the payment of a nonresident fee prescribed by law. FISCAL EFFECT : None COMMENTS : 1)Public cemetery districts. 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 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. 2)Halcumb Cemetery District. According to the Shasta Local Agency Formation Commission's Municipal Services Review (September 2013), there are eight public cemetery districts in Shasta County. The District was formed in 1935 and serves residents in a 214,761 acre service area in Central Shasta County, including the Round Mountain, Montgomery Creek, and Big Bend communities. The District provides perpetual care SB 1291 Page 4 and maintenance to two sites: Cove Cemetery which is a one-acre site that has been closed to new burials for decades, and the Halcumb Cemetery which has 13 developed acres out of 26 total acres. The District performs 15 to 20 interments per year, and has no estimate of when the Halcumb Cemetery site will reach capacity. In the 2012-13 fiscal year the District's budget was $60,730 and their total available endowment fund was $70,625. In 2005, the state dedicated the Northern California Veterans Cemetery, which is located less than 50 miles southwest of the Halcumb Cemetery. Supporters argue that after the veterans' cemetery opened nearby, annual interments in the District decreased, creating significant fiscal challenges. 3)Purpose of this bill. This bill extends, to the District, the authority currently granted to the Anderson, Cottonwood, Silveyville, and Kern River Valley cemetery districts. This bill allows the District to use its cemetery to inter nonresidents for a total of 400 interments, up to 40 per calendar year, pursuant to the conditions established for the authorization for the other four cemetery districts. This bill is sponsored by the District. 4)Author's statement. According to the author, "In 1909, the Legislature authorized public cemetery districts in order to assume responsibility of the operations of formerly privately-owned (social, religious, pioneer, fraternal, etc.) cemeteries, to ensure the continued maintenance and operation of existing cemeteries, and to provide affordable burial options for California's residents. "Because only residents and property owners within a district, and family members of those people, may be buried within that district's cemetery, some smaller cemetery districts have a very low rate of burials that occur each year. The struggle to maintain a constant flow of business for many of these smaller cemeteries is greatly impacted by nearby state and federal veterans cemeteries, where any U.S. veteran is allowed to be buried at no cost and the veteran's spouse can also be buried at no, or very minimal, cost. The District is located within 20 miles of a recently opened state and federal veterans' cemetery and each have lost significant interment opportunities to the new site." SB 1291 Page 5 5)Previous legislation. 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), Chapter 1039, Statutes of 1982). When the Public Cemetery District Law was revised, the Legislature retained Oroville's special provision (SB 341 (Local Government Committee), Chapter 57, Statutes of 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), Chapter 40, Statutes of 2010). 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 specified conditions (AB 966, (Yamada), Chapter 111, Statutes of 2011). SB 1131 (La Malfa), Chapter 65, Statutes of 2012, allows Anderson, Cottonwood, and Silveyville cemetery districts to inter nonresidents due to financial hardship caused by the openings of nearby state and federal veterans' cemeteries. SB 1131 allows those three cemetery districts to inter up to 40 nonresidents in each cemetery's district - up to a maximum of 400 - provided that a nonresident fee is paid, the district's board of trustees affirms that there is adequate space for the foreseeable future, and the cemetery has an endowment care fund. Most recently, SB 159 (Fuller), Chapter 55, Statutes of 2013, added the Kern River Valley Cemetery District to the list of cemetery districts that may inter nonresidents under specified conditions. AB 1593 (Dahle) of the current Legislative Session, was introduced to add the Auburn Public Cemetery District to the list of cemetery districts that currently have the authorization to inter nonresidents. The Assembly Local Government Committee's hearing of AB 1593 was canceled at the request of the author. 6)Policy consideration. The Legislature may wish to consider the policy of exempting cemetery districts one at a time, or exempting only those located near veterans' cemeteries. Because a larger policy issue exists for cemetery districts SB 1291 Page 6 that are struggling financially, the Legislature may wish to consider if a more comprehensive solution involving Local Agency Formation Commissions at the local level should be explored. 7)Arguments in support. Supporters argue that this bill will help the District to generate income which will help them to stay financially sound. 8)Arguments in opposition. Opposition argues that prior bills which have authorized other public cemetery districts to make out-of-district, non-qualifying interments have generated minimal additional revenue and that a broader solution for these financially troubled districts is necessary. Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN: 0003911