BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 1658 |Hearing | 6/15/16 |
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|Author: |Bigelow |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |1/13/16 |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant| Weinberger |
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Happy Homestead Cemetery District: nonresident burial
Allows the Happy Homestead Cemetery District to inter
nonresidents from specified communities in Nevada.
Background
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
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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
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). Subsequent legislation added the
Kern River Valley Cemetery District (SB 159, Fuller, 2013) and
the Halcumb Cemetery District (SB 1291, Nielsen, 2014) to the
list of district that are exempted from the state law
restricting non-resident burials. These five districts can 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, if all of the following apply:
The board of trustees determines that the district's
cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future;
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,
The cemetery district requires the payment of a
nonresident fee set, pursuant to existing law.
The Happy Homestead Cemetery District was formed in 1952 by the
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors. According to the El
Dorado County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), the
District serves an approximately 212 square mile area within the
South Lake Tahoe region, which was home to an estimated 30,500
resident as of 2007. The District operates an approximately 10
acre cemetery in South Lake Tahoe and is the only known cemetery
service provider, public or private, in the El Dorado County
portion of the Tahoe Basin. Some officials want the Legislature
to grant the District an exemption from the state law
AB 1658 (Bigelow) 1/13/16 Page 3
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restricting non-resident burials that is similar to exemptions
that state law grants to several other cemetery districts.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 1658 allows the Happy Homestead Cemetery District
to inter nonresidents from specified communities in Nevada.
Specifically, AB 1658 allows the District 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:
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 the minimum
amount set pursuant to existing law; and,
The District requires the payment of a nonresident fee
set pursuant to existing law.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . The Happy Homestead Cemetery District
operates the only cemetery in the South Lake Tahoe Region.
However, despite the fact that 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, California state law prevents the District from providing
cemetery services to individuals who live outside of the
District's boundaries. By allowing the District to inter
non-residents who are from specific nearby Nevada communities
just across the state border, AB 1658 promotes a cohesive social
and economic community in South Lake Tahoe. By requiring the
payment of a non-resident premium, the bill will also strengthen
the District's fiscal condition.
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2. Precedent and limits . The Happy Homestead Cemetery District
is only the most recent of numerous public cemetery districts
that have asked to be exempted statutory limits on non-resident
interments. Changing state law to help the Happy Homestead
Cemetery District will likely invite similar proposals from
other public cemetery districts. Advocates for private-sector
providers of cemetery services worry that continued expansion of
state law to allow non-resident interment, as proposed by AB
1658, creates an opportunity and incentive for public agencies
to engage in business practices that compete with the private
sector. AB 1658 lays the groundwork for incrementally exempting
many more public cemetery districts from the statutory
restrictions on nonresident interment.
3. Rethinking nonresident interment . Many public cemetery
districts are struggling financially. The loss of business to
veterans' cemeteries is 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 legislators may wish to more
broadly reconsider the statutory prohibition against public
cemeteries' interring nonresidents.
4. Special legislation . The California Constitution prohibits
special legislation when a general law can apply (Article IV,
§16). AB 1658 contains findings and declarations explaining the
need for legislation that applies only to the Happy Homestead
Cemetery District.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 8-0
Assembly Floor: 78-0
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Support and
Opposition (6/9/16)
Support : Happy Homestead Cemetery District; El Dorado County
Supervisors Sue Novasel; Public Cemetery Alliance; Tahoe Chamber
of Commerce.
Opposition : Cemetery and Mortuary Association of California.
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