BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1131|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1131
Author: La Malfa (R), et al.
Amended: 5/8/12
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/2/12
AYES: Wolk, Dutton, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hernandez, Kehoe,
La Malfa, Liu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SUBJECT : Public cemetery districts: interments
SOURCE : Cottonwood Cemetery District
DIGEST : This bill allows the Anderson Cemetery District,
Cottonwood Cemetery District, and Silveyville Cemetery
District to inter up to 40 nonresidents each per calendar
year, up to a maximum of 400, under specified conditions.
ANALYSIS : 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], Statutes of 1982). When it revised the Public
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Cemetery District Law, the Legislature retained Oroville's
special provision (SB 341 �Senate Local Government
Committee], Statutes of 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], Statutes of
2010). Last year, 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], Statutes of 2011).
This bill allows the Anderson Cemetery District in Shasta
County, the Cottonwood Cemetery District in Shasta County,
and the Silveyville Cemetery District in Solano County each
to inter in the ground or a columbarium up to 40 people per
calendar year, up to a maximum of 400, 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 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.
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 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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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 three
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.
Comments
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, this bill provides
those three districts with similar exceptions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 5/8/12)
Cottonwood Cemetery District (source)
Allen and Dahl Funeral Chapel
Anderson Cemetery District
Burney Cemetery District
Castroville Public Cemetery District
Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce
Fair Oaks Cemetery District
Galt-Arno Cemetery District
Gridley-Biggs Cemetery District
Hills Ferry Cemetery District
Los Banos Cemetery District
Madera Cemetery District
Orland Cemetery District
Oroville Cemetery District
Selma Cemetery District
Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery District
AGB:kc 5/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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