BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1179|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1179
Author: Vidak (R)
Amended: 6/6/16
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/19/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR: 38-0, 5/12/16 (Consent)
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone,
Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/11/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Public cemetery districts: interment rights
SOURCE: California Association of Public Cemeteries
DIGEST: This bill establishes an interment right as a
transferable property interest, requires the interment right
owner to designate a successor, and, in the event a successor
owner has not been otherwise named, establishes a procedure for
the succession of an interment right in public cemetery
districts. This bill provides immunity from liability to a
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district or district employee or trustee for claims, losses, or
damages resulting from transferring an interment right, as
specified, and provides the circumstances and process under
which human remains may be disinterred, reinterred, or removed
from a public cemetery district after interment, and specifies
the records required to be maintained by the public cemetery
district and the person removing and relocating the human
remains.
Assembly Amendments establish interment rights as transferable
property interests. The amendments provide that the intestate
order of succession would apply if the owner dies without making
the written designation required by this bill and without making
a valid and enforceable disposition of the interment right by a
specific devise in a testamentary device. The amendments
require that the public cemetery district follow abandonment
procedures for public cemetery districts in the event that the
owner dies with no heirs at law.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Provides for the operation of interment services and
establishment of public cemetery districts.
2) Authorizes a board of trustees of a public cemetery district
to establish policies for the operation of the district and
requires the board of trustees to provide for the faithful
implementation of those policies which is the responsibility
of the employees of the district.
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3) Authorizes a public cemetery district to exercise all rights
and powers, expressed or implied, necessary to carry out the
purposes and intent of the law, including adopting ordinances
and adopting and enforcing rules and regulations for the
administration, maintenance, operation, and use of
cemeteries.
4) Defines "lot," "plot," and "interment plot" to mean space in
a cemetery, used or intended to be used for the interment of
human remains, and such terms include and apply to one or
more than one adjoining graves, one or more than one
adjoining crypts or vaults, or one or more than one adjoining
niches.
5) Defines "grave" to mean a space of earth in a burial park,
used, or intended to be used, for the disposition of human
remains, "crypt" or "vault" means a space in a mausoleum of
sufficient size, used or intended to be used, to entomb
uncremated human remains, and "niche" means a space in a
columbarium used, or intended to be used, for the placement
of cremated human remains.
6) Defines "interment right" to mean the right to use or
control the use of a plot, niche, or other space, for the
interment of human remains.
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7) Establishes that, in private cemeteries, all plots conveyed
to individuals are presumed to be the sole and separate
property of the owner named in the instrument of conveyance.
8) Provides that the spouse of an owner of any plot in a
private cemetery containing more than one interment space has
a vested right of interment of his remains in the plot and
any person thereafter becoming the spouse of the owner has a
vested right of interment of his remains in the plot if more
than one interment space is unoccupied at the time the person
becomes the spouse of the owner.
9) Provides that if no interment is made in an interment plot
in a private cemetery which has been transferred by deed or
certificate of ownership to an individual owner, or if all
remains previously interred are lawfully removed, upon the
death of the owner, unless he has disposed of the plot either
in his will by a specific devise or by a written declaration
filed and recorded in the office of the cemetery authority,
the plot descends to the heirs at law of the owner subject to
the rights of interment of the decedent and his surviving
spouse.
10)Provides that an affidavit by a person having knowledge of
the facts setting forth the fact of the death of the owner
and the name of the person or persons entitled to the use of
the private cemetery plot is complete authorization to the
cemetery authority to permit the use of the unoccupied
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portions of the plot by the person entitled to the use of it.
11)Provides that if no parent or child survives, the right of
interment in a private cemetery plot goes in the order of
death first, to the spouse of any child of the record owner
and second, in the order of death to the next heirs at law of
the owner or the spouse of any heir at law.
12)Provides that any surviving spouse, parent, child or heir
who has a right of interment in a private cemetery family
plot may waive such right in favor of any other relative, or
spouse of a relative of either the deceased owner or of his
spouse, and upon such waiver the remains of the person in
whose favor the waiver is made may be interred in the plot.
This bill:
1) Defines "interment right" to mean rights held by the owner
to use or control the use of a plot for the interment of
human remains, including both of the following rights:
To determine the number and identity of any person or
persons to be interred in the plot within a cemetery in
conformance with all applicable regulations adopted by the
cemetery district; and
To control the placement, design, wording, and removal
of memorial markers in compliance with all applicable
regulations adopted by the cemetery district.
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1) Establishes that an interment right is a transferable
property interest but would not include the right for
disinterment of human remains except on consent of the
cemetery district and the written consent of the surviving
spouse, child, parent, or sibling, in that order of priority.
2) Does not apply to, or prohibit, the removal of remains from
one plot to another in the same cemetery or the removal of
remains by a cemetery district upon the written order of any
of the following: (a) the superior court of the county in
which the cemetery is located; (b) the coroner having
jurisdiction of the location of the cemetery; or (c) the
health department having jurisdiction of the cemetery.
3) Requires the cemetery district to maintain a duplicate copy
of that written order and a true and correct record of a
removal of remains, supplied by the person making the
removal, as specified, that includes all of the following:
The date the remains were removed;
The name and the age at death of the person whose
remains were removed if available;
The cemetery and plot from which the remains were
removed; and
If the removed remains are reinterred, the plot number,
cemetery name, and location to which the remains were
reinterred;
If the removed remains are disposed of other than by
being reinterred, a record of the alternate disposition; or
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If the removed remains are reinterred at the cemetery,
the date of reinterment.
1) Establishes that an interment right provides a transferable
property interest to person listed as the owner in the
records of the cemetery district, subject to any written
designation to the contrary signed by the owner and deposited
with the cemetery district, or to the owner's successor, as
specified.
2) Provides that an internment right shall not be construed as
conferring title to the property burdened by the transferable
property interest.
3) Authorizes the owner of record of an interment right to
designate in writing the person or persons, other than the
owner of record, who may be interred in the plot to which the
owner holds the interment right.
4) Requires, at the time of purchase, the owner of an interment
right to designate a successor owner or owners of the
interment right in a signed written designation deposited
with the district.
5) Requires the use of an interment right transferred from the
owner to a successor through written designation to be made
in compliance with applicable provisions of state and local
law, and of applicable requirements or policies established
by the district board of trustees.
6) Provides that if the owner of an interment right dies
without making a valid and enforceable disposition of the
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interment right by a specific devise in a testamentary
device, or by the required written designation, the interment
right shall pass by the intestate order of succession and in
the event the owner has no heirs at law, the district shall
follow abandonment procedures, as specified.
7) Authorizes any surviving spouse, domestic partner, child, or
heir who has a right of interment as a successor owner to
waive such right in favor of any other relative, or spouse of
a relative of the deceased owner.
8) Provides that when a public cemetery district acts to
transfer ownership rights or make an interment on the basis
of the affidavit, given under penalty of perjury, as
specified, the district, and any employee or trustee of the
district, would not be liable for any claims, losses, or
damages asserted in any action unless the district had actual
knowledge that the facts stated in writing are false.
9) Requires a person purporting to be the successor owner of an
internment right to execute a written affidavit declaring,
under penalty of perjury, all of the following: (a) he or
she is the person entitled to succeed to the interment right;
(b) he or she has exerted all reasonable efforts to find
other persons who may have an equal or higher claim to
succeed to the interment right; and (c) he or she is unaware,
to the best of his or her knowledge, of any opposition
challenging his or her right to succeed to the interment
right.
10)Requires, upon the sale to a person of a plot in a public
cemetery district, the district to notify the purchaser, in
writing, of any interment rights, the succession of ownership
of the interment rights, and the district's duly adopted
policies, rules, and regulations governing the use, sale, or
other transfer of interment rights.
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Background
Since 1909, public cemetery districts have provided California
communities with the means to publicly finance the ownership,
improvement, expansion, and operation of public cemeteries and
provide respectful, cost-effective interments for district
residents. California has over 250 public cemetery districts,
which are governed by the Public Cemetery District Law (PCDL).
The PCDL specifies the procedures for the formation and
operation of public cemetery districts, procedures for the
selection of the district board of trustees, and the powers and
duties of the board.
SB 341 (Committee on Local Government, Chapter 57, Statutes of
2003) modernized and recodified the PCDL. Although that law
explained how cemetery districts would manage interment rights,
the PCDL did not define the term. Accordingly, SB 113
(Committee on Local Government, Chapter 332, Statutes of 2009),
among other things, adopted a statutory definition of "interment
right" within the PCDL to mean the use or control of the use of
a plot, niche, or other space, for the interment of human
remains. Subsequently, SB 184 (Committee on Governance and
Finance, Chapter 210, Statutes of 2013), among other things,
revised the definition of "family member" to include "domestic
partner," as specified, in the PCDL.
This bill establishes an interment right as a transferable
property interest, requires the interment right owner to
designate a successor, and, in the event a successor owner has
not been otherwise named, establishes a procedure for the
succession of an interment right in public cemetery districts.
This bill also provides immunity from liability to a district or
district employee or trustee for claims, losses, or damages
resulting from transferring an interment right, as specified,
and provides the circumstances and process under which human
remains may be disinterred, reinterred, or removed from a public
cemetery district after interment, and specifies the records
required to be maintained by the public cemetery district and
the person removing and relocating the human remains.
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Comments
The author writes:
Current law presently provides no direction to public
cemeteries when it comes to the use of interment rights
purchased by someone who has already passed away without
designating a successor. Because of this ambiguity with
the passing of interment rights, some public cemeteries
have established their own guidelines or policies as to
how internment rights are passed down. With guidelines
varying from district to district, it can cause confusion
and delay for a family that is trying to utilize an
interment right purchased by a deceased family member.
When a cemetery decides to use an interment right that has
not been probated or successor named in legal documents,
they usually have about 3 to 7 days to make a decision to
accommodate the family's request to inter the deceased.
These quick and emotional decisions must be made by public
cemeteries to determine who has the authority to use the
interment right with very little guidance from the law.
SB 1179 requires interment right owners, at the time of
purchase, to designate successors. If the owner of an
interment right passes before any successors are appointed
in either the previous provisions of SB 1179 or a legal
device (will, trust, probate), the interment right will
transfer to the successors according to the rules of
interstate succession, similar to the transfer of burial
rights in private cemeteries. Heirs who have an interment
right are able to waive that right in favor of any other
relative of the deceased owner.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, any
additional administrative costs to public cemetery districts
should minor and absorbable, and thus are not likely to result
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in any state reimbursable mandated costs.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
California Association of Public Cemeteries (source)
Altaville Cemetery District
California Special Districts Association
Fair Oaks Cemetery District
Gridley-Briggs Cemetery District
Kern County Cemetery District
Lemoore Cemetery District
Los Banos Cemetery District
Madera Cemetery District
Murrieta Valley Cemetery District
Oroville Cemetery District
Paso Robles District Cemetery
Public Cemetery Alliance
Roseville Public Cemetery District
San Jacinto Valley Cemetery District
Sutter Cemetery District
Williams Cemetery District
Wilmington Cemetery District
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
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,
Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine,
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Linder, Lopez, 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: Roger Hernández, Low
Prepared by:Margie Estrada / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
8/12/16 13:28:15
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