BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1658


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          Date of Hearing:  May 4, 2016 


                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT


                           Susan Talamantes Eggman, Chair


          AB 1658  
          (Bigelow) - As Introduced January 13, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Happy Homestead Cemetery District:  nonresident  
          burial.


          SUMMARY:  Authorizes the Happy Homestead Cemetery District  
          (District) to inter nonresidents from specified communities in  
          Nevada.  Specifically, this bill:   


          1)Authorizes the District, located in the City of South Lake  
            Tahoe in El Dorado County, to inter nonresidents of the  
            District who are residents of the Nevada communities of  
            Glenbrook, Cave Rock, Skyland, Zephyr Cove, Round Hill, Elk  
            Point, Kingsbury, and Stateline, if all of the following  
            conditions apply:  


             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,  










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             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:   


          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  
               above.

          2)Authorizes the Cottonwood, Anderson, Silveyville, Halcumb, 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  








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            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  
            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 in 2), above, apply.  

          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.  









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            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)Bill Summary.  This bill authorizes the District to inter  
            nonresidents in its cemetery, pursuant to the conditions  
            established for several other cemetery districts under  
            existing law.  This bill only authorizes the interment of  
            non-District residents from the Nevada communities of  
            Glenbrook, Cave Rock, Skyland, Zephyr Cove, Round Hill, Elk  
            Point, Kingsbury, and Stateline.  This bill is sponsored by  
            the District.  


          3)Author's Statement.  According to the author, "The purpose of  
            public cemetery districts is to provide cost-effective burial  
            services for residents and taxpayers of each district.  Public  
            cemetery districts are the successors to Gold Rush community  
            burying grounds and community cemetery associations.  Thus,  
            the purpose is to provide interment services for residents of  
            the local community.  The Nevada communities on the east shore  
            of Lake Tahoe, from Glenbook down to Stateline, are a part of  
            the contiguous social and economic community of South Lake  
            Tahoe, of which South Lake Tahoe, California is a major part.   
            There is only one cemetery in the region - the Happy Homestead  
            Cemetery in South Lake Tahoe.  Yet current California law  
            prevents Nevada residents of the community from being buried  
            in this community cemetery.  This bill will permit their  
            interment in the District, with the payment of a non-resident  
            premium.  Doing so will serve to further the cohesive social  
            and economic community as well as increase revenues for the  
            District."  








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          4)District.  The District is located in South Lake Tahoe in El  
            Dorado County and was formed in 1952 by the Board of  
            Supervisors.  According to the El Dorado County Local Agency  
            Formation Commission (LAFCO), the area served by the District  
            includes 212 square miles and an estimated population of  
            30,500 as of 2007.  The District is the only known cemetery  
            service provider, public or private, in the El Dorado County  
            portion of the Tahoe Basin.  





          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, 1982).  When the Public Cemetery District Law  
            was revised, 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).  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, 2011).  



            SB 1131 (La Malfa), Chapter 65, Statutes of 2012, authorizes  
            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  








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            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, and SB  
            1291 (Nielsen), Chapter 276, Statutes of 2014, added Halcumb  
            Cemetery District to the list of cemetery districts that may  
            inter nonresidents under specified conditions.  





            AB 1593 (Dahle) of 2014 would have added the Auburn Public  
            Cemetery District to the list of cemetery districts that  
            currently have the authorization to inter nonresidents.  This  
            bill was never heard in the Local Government Committee.





          6)Related Legislation.  SB 1009 (Nielson), pending in the Senate  
            Governance and Finance Committee, has not been set for  
            hearing. SB 1009 would establish a statewide approach and  
            allow a cemetery district that serves at least one county  
            located in a rural area to inter nonresidents, subject to the  
            conditions established under current law for individual  
            districts.  SB 1009 would limit the number of nonresidents a  
            district could inter to a total of 400, not to exceed 40 per  
            calendar year.  


          7)Policy Considerations.  The Committee may wish to consider the  
            policy of exempting cemetery districts one at a time.  The  
            Committee may wish to consider if a more comprehensive  
            solution involving LAFCOs at the local level should be  
            explored.  For example, the Legislature could authorize  
            cemetery districts, using conditions in existing law for  








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            individual districts, to petition LAFCO if they would like to  
            inter nonresidents.  This approach would allow LAFCOs, who are  
            the Legislature's watchdog over local boundaries, make the  
            decision at the local level and to consider other options like  
            annexing new territory into the cemetery district.  

          8)Arguments in Support.  The District argues, "AB 1658 is  
            intended to achieve two ends: First, it is intended to  
            increase the population that Happy Homestead serves, thus  
            increasing potential revenues and permitting continuing  
            cemetery operations without additional tax revenues.  Second,  
            and equally important, it will help to preserve the southern  
            Lake Tahoe community, one that is divided by the border  
            between California and Nevada.  The residents of the Nevada  
            communities on the east and south shore of the Lake and those  
            in California's South Lake Tahoe compromise a single,  
            economic, social and cultural community.  Yet those Nevada  
            residents are largely ineligible for internment in the only  
            cemetery in the region - the Happy Homestead Cemetery -  
            because they are not residents or taxpayers within the  
            boundaries of the District."   


          9)Arguments in Opposition.  The Cemetery and Mortuary  
            Association of California argues, "Cemetery districts, as  
            entities of municipal government are intended to serve their  
            residents.  The law therefore sets forth specific connections  
            where interments are appropriate.  The expansion of the law to  
            include non-residents, as proposed by AB 1658, creates an  
            opportunity and incentive for municipalities to engage in  
            business practices that compete with the private sector."  


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support








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          Happy Homestead Cemetery District [SPONSOR]


          Tahoe Chamber of Commerce




          Opposition


          Cemetery and Mortuary Association of California




          Analysis Prepared by:Misa Lennox / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958