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
AB 1658
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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