Cemeteries

The law provides a path to address neglected formerly licensed cemeteries that threaten public health, safety, or welfare. It protects existing prepaid burial contracts and restricts cemetery care funds to maintaining the cemetery.

What the law does ​

• Defines an abandoned endowment care cemetery as a formerly licensed cemetery with a canceled, surrendered, or revoked authority, a bureau-conserved care fund, no timely ownership transfer, and identified public-health, safety, or welfare impacts.
• Requires counties to give owners 90 days’ written notice to correct identified concerns before declaring the cemetery abandoned.
• Allows cemetery property to transfer to the county after abandonment, requires notice to the local agency formation commission, and requires prompt recording of the transfer.
• Requires counties that take title to honor remaining burial contracts, while generally shielding them from the prior owner’s debts and liabilities.
• Requires counties within three years to take remaining bureau-held endowment care funds and related assets, placing the money in a county special fund usable only for cemetery care, maintenance, or embellishment.
• Allows cities and counties to assign cemetery care and management to qualified California nonprofit public benefit corporations, which may seek reimbursement from available fund income and must honor existing burial contracts.
• Exempts qualifying nonprofit managers of abandoned cemeteries from specified cemetery regulation when they handle prepaid burials but sell no new burial spaces.
• Requires cemetery authorities’ annual filings to include an audit for each year covered by the reporting period.

Who it affects ​

• Counties, cities, and cities and counties managing or transferring management of abandoned endowment care cemeteries.
• Owners of abandoned cemetery property.
• California nonprofit public benefit corporations that manage these cemeteries.
• Cemetery authorities and the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.
• People with prepaid or other existing burial contracts at affected cemeteries.

Context ​

Property owners remain responsible for outstanding property taxes and other debts secured by the cemetery real property at transfer.

Breakdown ​

Exemption for Certain Abandoned Cemeteries ​

The bill exempts a narrow type of nonprofit organization from specified cemetery definitions and regulations. The exemption applies to a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that maintains an abandoned endowment care cemetery, handles burials under prepaid contracts, and does not sell new burial spaces.

Key takeaways

• The bill adds certain California nonprofit public benefit corporations to the entities exempt from specified cemetery definitions and regulations.
• To qualify, the nonprofit must manage the continued care and maintenance of an abandoned endowment care cemetery.
• The nonprofit may oversee or perform interments under prepaid burial contracts.
• The exemption applies only if the nonprofit does not enter new contracts to sell new burial spaces to consumers.

Annual Cemetery Fund Audits ​

SB 1312 requires cemetery authorities to include an annual audit report for each year covered by their filing period when reporting endowment care fund information to the state. Previously, the required information had to be accompanied by an annual audit report, without specifying that there must be a separate report for every year in the reporting period.

Key takeaways

• Cemetery authorities must continue reporting specified endowment care fund collections and deposits to the bureau.
• The supporting audit requirement now expressly applies to each year in the reporting period.
• The audits cover the endowment care fund and special care fund information required in the annual filing.
• This change makes clear that a reporting period spanning multiple years requires an audit report for each of those years.

Exemption for Certain Abandoned Cemeteries ​

The bill exempts certain nonprofit corporations from rules that otherwise regulate private cemeteries. The exemption applies when a California nonprofit public benefit corporation maintains an abandoned endowment care cemetery, handles interments under prepaid burial contracts, and does not sell new burial spaces to consumers.

Key takeaways

• A qualifying California nonprofit public benefit corporation is exempt from private-cemetery regulations.
• The corporation must manage the ongoing care and maintenance of an abandoned endowment care cemetery.
• The exemption covers corporations that oversee or carry out burials under prepaid burial contracts.
• The corporation cannot enter into new contracts to sell burial spaces to consumers.

Abandoned Endowment Care Cemeteries ​

The bill creates a process for counties to take over certain abandoned endowment care cemeteries that are harming public health, safety, or welfare. A county must give the property owner 90 days to fix identified problems before declaring the cemetery abandoned and transferring the property to county ownership. The county must use transferred cemetery funds and assets only for the cemetery’s care, maintenance, or improvement, and may assign its care and management to an eligible nonprofit.

Key takeaways

• The bill defines an abandoned endowment care cemetery as a formerly licensed cemetery meeting specified conditions, including that its endowment care fund has been conserved by the bureau and the property is negatively affecting public health, safety, or welfare.
• Before taking action, a county must give the cemetery property owner written notice and 90 days to correct the identified health, safety, or welfare concerns.
• If the concerns remain uncorrected after 90 days, the county must declare the property an abandoned endowment care cemetery, and ownership of the real property may be transferred to the county and recorded.
• Within three years after title is transferred, the county must take title to remaining endowment care funds held by the bureau and to necessary books, records, property, and assets.
• The county must place these funds and assets in a special county fund and use them only for the cemetery’s care, maintenance, or embellishment.
• The county may transfer care and management of an abandoned endowment care cemetery to a qualifying California nonprofit public benefit corporation.