BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1131 HEARING: 5/2/12
AUTHOR: La Malfa FISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/25/12 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Weinberger
CEMETERY DISTRICTS
Allows the Anderson Cemetery District, Cottonwood Cemetery
District, and Silveyville Cemetery District to inter
nonresidents under specified conditions.
Background and Existing Law
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.
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 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). Last year, to facilitate a group
purchase of cemetery plots by members of the Congregation
Bet Haverim Synagogue, the Legislature allowed the Davis
SB 1131 -- 4/25/12 -- Page 2
cemetery district to inter up to 500 nonresidents under
specified conditions (AB 966, Yamada, 2011).
The Anderson Cemetery District (Shasta County) and
Cottonwood Cemetery District (Shasta County) were both
established in 1943 to provide cemetery services to
residents in the cities of Anderson and Cottonwood and in
some unincorporated parts of Shasta County. In 2005, the
state dedicated the Northern California Veterans Cemetery,
which is located less than 20 miles away from both the
Anderson and Cottonwood districts' cemeteries. During the
most recent complete fiscal year, the Northern California
Veterans Cemetery performed 505 burials. After the
veterans' cemetery opened nearby, annual interments in the
Anderson and Cottonwood districts' cemeteries decreased,
creating significant fiscal challenges for both districts.
The Silveyville Cemetery District (Solano County) was
established in 1927. It owns and operates 3 cemeteries:
Dixon Cemetery, Binghampton Cemetery, and Tremont Cemetery.
In 2006, the federal government opened the Sacramento
Valley National Cemetery, which is located less than 15
miles from each of the Silveyville District's three
cemeteries. Annual interments in the Silveyville
District's cemeteries decreased after the veterans'
cemetery opened.
To help the Anderson, Cottonwood, and Silveyville cemetery
districts overcome the ongoing loss of business to nearby
veterans cemeteries, district officials want the
Legislature to grant them an exemption from the state law
restricting nonresident burials.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 1131 allows the Anderson Cemetery District, the
Cottonwood Cemetery District, and the Silveyville Cemetery
District each to inter in the ground or a columbarium up to
40 people per calendar year who are neither residents nor
property taxpayers in any cemetery district and who do not
otherwise qualify for interment under the state law
governing public cemetery districts' interment of eligible
nonresidents, if:
The board of trustees determines that the
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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 a minimum payment as prescribed by law; and
The District requires the payment of a non-resident
fee, as set by law.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . Although statewide laws attempt
to embrace a wide variety of local conditions and
circumstances, legislators can't anticipate every local
need. Responding to a special request nearly 30 years ago,
the Legislature allowed the Oroville Cemetery District to
bury nonresidents, if three conditions existed. Subject to
the same conditions, the Legislature approved similar
exceptions for the Elsinore Valley Cemetery District and
the Davis Cemetery District. To help the Anderson,
Cottonwood, and Silveyville Cemetery Districts overcome
fiscal challenges caused by their proximity to new
veterans' cemeteries, SB 1131 provides those three
districts with similar exceptions.
2. Setting limits . Because the Anderson, Cottonwood, and
Silveyville cemeteries' loss of business to nearby
veterans' cemeteries is ongoing, SB 1131 grants the
districts ongoing authority to inter up to 40 nonresidents
per year. However, by not defining a maximum total number
of nonresident interments that are allowed in each of the
districts' cemeteries, SB 1131 differs from previous
legislation that exempted cemetery districts from
nonresident interment restrictions. As a condition of
allowing nonresident burials, the bill requires each
district's board to determine that their cemetery will have
adequate space for the foreseeable future. It is unclear
how a districts' board could make a reliable finding that a
district cemetery has adequate space to inter an indefinite
number of nonresidents in future years. The Committee may
wish to consider amending SB 1131 to limit each district to
SB 1131 -- 4/25/12 -- Page 4
400 total nonresident interments.
3. Precedent . The Anderson and Cottonwood cemetery
districts are not the only two public cemetery districts
that face challenges because of their proximity to recently
opened veterans cemeteries. The federal government also
recently established the Bakersfield National Cemetery
(Kern County) and Miramar National Cemetery (San Diego
County). Changing state law to help the Anderson and
Cottonwood districts may invite similar proposals from
other cemetery districts that are located near veterans'
cemeteries. The Committee may wish to consider whether SB
1131 lays the groundwork for exempting other public
cemetery districts from the statutory restrictions on
nonresident interment.
4. Rethinking nonresident interment . Many public cemetery
districts are struggling financially. The loss of business
to veterans' cemeteries is only 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 ERAF shifts,
which reallocated some districts' property taxes to benefit
schools. Cemetery districts' revenues also have been
reduced by a shift in funeral practices in which 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.
Legislators may wish to reconsider the statutory
prohibition against public cemeteries' interring
nonresidents.
Support and Opposition (4/26/12)
Support : Anderson Cemetery District Manager Eric Kapaska,
Burney Cemetery District Manager Jackwellen Young,
Castroville Cemetery District Manager Silvia Vazquez,
Cottonwood Cemetery District Manager Arnie Brinton,
Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce President Tim Bork, Fair
Oaks Cemetery District Manager Ray Young, Galt-Arno
Cemetery District Manager Tim Mrozinski, Los Banos Cemetery
District Manager Darryl Henley, Madera Cemetery District
Manager Barbara Manfredo, Orland Cemetery District
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Superintendent Art Leonard, Oroville Cemetery District
Manager Cheryl Smith, Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery District
Board Chairman H. Lee Tedder.
Opposition : Cemetery and Mortuary Association of
California.