BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1291
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1291 (Nielsen)
As Introduced February 21, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :36-0
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8-0
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|Ayes:|Achadjian, Levine, Alejo, | | |
| |Bradford, Gordon, | | |
| |Melendez, Mullin, Rendon | | |
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SUMMARY : Allows the Halcumb Cemetery District to inter
nonresidents under specified conditions. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Extends to the Halcumb Cemetery District (District) in Shasta
County, the authority already granted to the Cottonwood
Cemetery District (Shasta County), the Anderson Cemetery
District (Shasta County), the Silveyville Cemetery District
(Solano County) and the Kern River Valley Cemetery District
(Kern County), to use its cemetery for up to a total of 400
interments each, not to exceed 40 interments per calendar
year, for the interment in the ground or columbarium of any
person who is not a resident or a property taxpayer of the
cemetery district, if the following conditions are met:
a) The board of trustees determines that the District's
cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future;
b) 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,
c) The District requires the payment of a nonresident fee
set pursuant to existing law.
2)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary because of
the unique circumstances pertaining to the District.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)States that a cemetery district shall limit interments to the
following:
a) Persons who are residents of the cemetery district;
b) Persons who are former residents of the cemetery
district and who acquired interment rights while they were
residents of the district;
c) Persons who pay property taxes on property located in
the cemetery district;
d) Persons who formerly paid property taxes on property
located in the cemetery district and who acquired interment
rights while they paid those property taxes;
e) Eligible nonresidents of the cemetery district, as
provided; or,
f) Persons who are family members of any person described
in this section.
2)Allows the Cottonwood, Anderson, Silveyville, and Kern River
Valley cemetery districts to 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 pursuant to existing law, if all of the
following apply:
a) The board of trustees determines that the district's
cemetery has adequate space for the foreseeable future;
b) 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,
c) The cemetery district requires the payment of a
nonresident fee set pursuant to existing law.
3)Authorizes the Oroville Cemetery District to use its cemetery
on Feather River Boulevard, for up to a total of 100
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interments, for interment in the ground of any non-residents,
the Elsinore Valley Cemetery District to use a portion of its
cemetery for up to a total of 536 interments for nonresidents,
and the Davis Cemetery District to use its cemetery for up to
a total of 500 interments, for interment in the ground of any
nonresident, if all of the following apply:
a) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future;
b) 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,
c) The cemetery district requires the payment of a
nonresident fee prescribed by law.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)Public cemetery districts. 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.
2)Halcumb Cemetery District. According to the Shasta Local
Agency Formation Commission's Municipal Services Review
(September 2013), there are eight public cemetery districts in
Shasta County. The District was formed in 1935 and serves
residents in a 214,761 acre service area in Central Shasta
County, including the Round Mountain, Montgomery Creek, and
Big Bend communities. The District provides perpetual care
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and maintenance to two sites: Cove Cemetery which is a
one-acre site that has been closed to new burials for decades,
and the Halcumb Cemetery which has 13 developed acres out of
26 total acres. The District performs 15 to 20 interments per
year, and has no estimate of when the Halcumb Cemetery site
will reach capacity. In the 2012-13 fiscal year the
District's budget was $60,730 and their total available
endowment fund was $70,625.
In 2005, the state dedicated the Northern California Veterans
Cemetery, which is located less than 50 miles southwest of the
Halcumb Cemetery. Supporters argue that after the veterans'
cemetery opened nearby, annual interments in the District
decreased, creating significant fiscal challenges.
3)Purpose of this bill. This bill extends, to the District, the
authority currently granted to the Anderson, Cottonwood,
Silveyville, and Kern River Valley cemetery districts. This
bill allows the District to use its cemetery to inter
nonresidents for a total of 400 interments, up to 40 per
calendar year, pursuant to the conditions established for the
authorization for the other four cemetery districts. This
bill is sponsored by the District.
4)Author's statement. According to the author, "In 1909, the
Legislature authorized public cemetery districts in order to
assume responsibility of the operations of formerly
privately-owned (social, religious, pioneer, fraternal, etc.)
cemeteries, to ensure the continued maintenance and operation
of existing cemeteries, and to provide affordable burial
options for California's residents.
"Because only residents and property owners within a district,
and family members of those people, may be buried within that
district's cemetery, some smaller cemetery districts have a
very low rate of burials that occur each year. The struggle
to maintain a constant flow of business for many of these
smaller cemeteries is greatly impacted by nearby state and
federal veterans cemeteries, where any U.S. veteran is allowed
to be buried at no cost and the veteran's spouse can also be
buried at no, or very minimal, cost. The District is located
within 20 miles of a recently opened state and federal
veterans' cemetery and each have lost significant interment
opportunities to the new site."
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5)Previous legislation. 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 the
Public Cemetery District Law was revised, the Legislature
retained Oroville's special provision (SB 341 (Local
Government Committee), Chapter 57, 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), Chapter 40, Statutes of 2010). 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).
SB 1131 (La Malfa), Chapter 65, Statutes of 2012, allows
Anderson, Cottonwood, and Silveyville cemetery districts to
inter nonresidents due to financial hardship caused by the
openings of nearby state and federal veterans' cemeteries. SB
1131 allows those three cemetery districts to inter up to 40
nonresidents in each cemetery's district - up to a maximum of
400 - provided that a nonresident fee is paid, the district's
board of trustees affirms that there is adequate space for the
foreseeable future, and the cemetery has an endowment care
fund. Most recently, SB 159 (Fuller), Chapter 55, Statutes of
2013, added the Kern River Valley Cemetery District to the
list of cemetery districts that may inter nonresidents under
specified conditions.
AB 1593 (Dahle) of the current Legislative Session, was
introduced to add the Auburn Public Cemetery District to the
list of cemetery districts that currently have the
authorization to inter nonresidents. The Assembly Local
Government Committee's hearing of AB 1593 was canceled at the
request of the author.
6)Policy consideration. The Legislature may wish to consider
the policy of exempting cemetery districts one at a time, or
exempting only those located near veterans' cemeteries.
Because a larger policy issue exists for cemetery districts
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that are struggling financially, the Legislature may wish to
consider if a more comprehensive solution involving Local
Agency Formation Commissions at the local level should be
explored.
7)Arguments in support. Supporters argue that this bill will
help the District to generate income which will help them to
stay financially sound.
8)Arguments in opposition. Opposition argues that prior bills
which have authorized other public cemetery districts to make
out-of-district, non-qualifying interments have generated
minimal additional revenue and that a broader solution for
these financially troubled districts is necessary.
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
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