BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1658|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1658
Author: Bigelow (R), et al.
Introduced:1/13/16
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach,
Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Happy Homestead Cemetery District: nonresident
burial
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill allows the Happy Homestead Cemetery District
to inter nonresidents from specified communities in Nevada.
ANALYSIS: Existing law generally allows cemetery districts to
bury only residents, former residents, property taxpayers,
former taxpayers, certain eligible nonresidents, and their
family members.
This bill allows the Happy Homestead Cemetery District to inter
nonresidents from specified communities in Nevada.
Specifically, this bill 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
AB 1658
Page 2
following conditions apply:
1)The board of trustees determines that the District's cemetery
has adequate space for the foreseeable future;
2)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,
3)The District requires the payment of a nonresident fee set
pursuant to existing law.
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, Chapter 1039, Statutes
of 1982). When it revised the Public Cemetery District Law, the
Legislature retained Oroville's special provision (SB 341,
Senate Local Government Committee, Chapter 57, Statutes of
AB 1658
Page 3
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). 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, Chapter 111, Statutes of
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, Chapter 65, Statutes of 2012). Subsequent
legislation added the Kern River Valley Cemetery District (SB
159, Fuller, Chapter 55, Statutes of 2013) and the Halcumb
Cemetery District (SB 1291, Nielsen, Chapter 276, Statutes of
2014) to the list of districts 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
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Page 4
Dorado County Local Agency Formation Commission, 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
restricting non-resident burials that is similar to exemptions
that state law grants to several other cemetery districts.
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, this bill
will also strengthen the District's fiscal condition.
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.
AB 1658
Page 5
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
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/16/16)
California Special Districts Association
El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel
Happy Homestead Cemetery District
Public Cemetery Alliance
Tahoe Chamber of Commerce
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/16/16)
Cemetery and Mortuary Association of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: This bill's supporters argue that, by
allowing the District to inter non-residents who are from
specific nearby Nevada communities just across the state border,
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Page 6
this bill promotes a cohesive social and economic community in
South Lake Tahoe. They also argue that, by requiring the
payment of a non-resident premium, this bill will also
strengthen the District's fiscal condition.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: This bill's opponent argues that
continued expansion of state law to allow non-resident interment
creates an opportunity and incentive for public agencies to
engage in business practices that compete with the private
sector. They worry that this bill lays the groundwork for
incrementally exempting many more public cemetery districts from
the statutory restrictions on nonresident interment.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Brian Weinberger / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
6/17/16 15:03:49
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