Amended
IN
Assembly
April 06, 2021 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia |
February 09, 2021 |
The bureau may inspect the premises in which the business of a funeral establishment, reduction facility, cemetery, or crematory is conducted, where embalming is practiced, or where human remains are stored.
A “cremated remains disposer” is a person who, for the person’s own account or for another, disposes of, or offers to dispose of, cremated human remains or hydrolyzed human remains by scattering over or on land or sea. A “cremated remains disposer” also includes a person who, for the person’s own account of for another, integrates into the soil, or offers to integrate into the soil, reduced human remains.
The bureau shall inspect the books, records, and premises of a reduction facility or a hydrolysis facility licensed under this chapter. In making those inspections, the bureau shall have access to all books and records, the hydrolysis or reduction facility, the hydrolysis chamber or reduction chamber, and the storage areas for human remains before and after reduction or hydrolysis, during regular office hours or the hours the facility is in operation. Prior notification of the inspection is not required to be given to the licensee. If
a licensee fails to allow inspection or any part thereof, it shall be grounds for the suspension or revocation of a license or other disciplinary action against the licensee. All proceedings under this section shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter relating to disciplinary proceedings.
The bureau shall annually conduct a minimum of one unannounced inspection of each reduction facility and each licensed hydrolysis facility.
A person shall not dispose of, or offer to dispose of, cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains unless registered as a cremated remains disposer by the bureau. This article does not apply to a person, partnership, or corporation holding a certificate of authority as a cemetery, crematory license, reduction facility, hydrolysis facility license, cemetery broker’s license, cemetery salesperson’s license, or funeral director’s license, nor shall this article apply to a person having the right to control the disposition of the cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains of a person or that person’s designee if the person does not dispose of, or offer to dispose of, more than 10 human remains within a calendar year.
The bureau shall prepare and deliver to each registered cremated remains disposer a booklet that includes, but is not limited to, the following information: details about the registration and renewal requirements for cremated remains disposers; requirements for obtaining state permits to dispose of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains; state storage requirements, if any; statutory duties pursuant to this article, and other applicable state laws.
A cremated remains disposer who scatters any cremated human remains or hydrolyzed human remains or who integrates reduced human remains into the soil without specific written instructions from the person having the right to control the disposition of the remains or who scatters or integrates into the soil remains in a manner not in accordance with those instructions shall be subject to disciplinary action.
(a)Every cremated remains disposer shall do both of the following:
(1)Dispose of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains within 60 days of the receipt of those remains, unless a written signed reason for a delay is presented to the person with the right to control the disposition of the remains under Section 7100 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2)Provide the bureau with the address and telephone number of any storage facility being used by the registrant to store
cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains. Cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains shall be stored in a place free from exposure to the elements, and shall be responsibly maintained until disposal. The bureau and its representatives shall conduct, on an annual basis, random inspections of the operations of 5 to 10 percent of the registered cremated remains disposers, and may inspect any place used by a cremated remains disposer for the storage of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains without notice to the cremated remains disposer.
(b)A violation of the requirements of this section is grounds for disciplinary action.
(a)Each cremated remains disposer shall file, and thereafter maintain an updated copy of, an annual report on a form prescribed by the bureau. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the names of the deceased persons whose cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains were disposed of, the dates of receipt of the cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains, the names and addresses of the persons who authorized disposal of those remains, the dates and locations of disposal of those remains, and the means and manner of disposition. The report shall cover the fiscal year ending on June 30 and shall be filed with the bureau no later than September 30 of each year.
(b)A cremated remains disposer that makes a willful and material false statement regarding the disposal of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains in the annual report filed or updated pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be subject to disciplinary action.
(c)A cremated remains disposer that makes a willful and material false statement in the annual report filed or updated pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
A cremated remains disposer who stores cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains in a reckless manner that results in either of the following is guilty of a public offense punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment:
(a)Loss of all or part of the human remains.
(b)Inability to individually identify the human remains.
(a)A funeral director shall not enter into a contract for furnishing services or property in connection with the burial or other disposal of human remains until the funeral director has first submitted to the potential purchaser of those services or property a written or printed memorandum containing the following information, provided that information is available at the time of execution of the contract:
(1)The total charge for the funeral director’s services and the use of the facilities, including the preparation of the body and other professional services, and the charge for the use of automotive and other necessary equipment.
(2)An itemization of charges for the following merchandise as selected: the casket, an outside receptacle, and clothing.
(3)An itemization of fees or charges and the total amount of cash advances made by the funeral director for transportation, flowers, cemetery, crematory, reduction facility, or hydrolysis facility charges, newspaper notices, clergy honorarium, transcripts, telegrams, long distance telephone calls, music, and any other advances as authorized by the purchaser.
(4)An itemization of any other fees or charges not included above.
(5)The total of the amount specified in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive.
If the charge for any of the above items is not
known at the time the contract is entered into, the funeral director shall advise the purchaser of the charge therefor, within a reasonable period after the information becomes available. All prices charged for items covered under Sections 7685 and 7685.1 shall be the same as those given under those sections.
(b)A funeral establishment shall obtain from the person with the right to control the disposition pursuant to Section 7100 of the Health and Safety Code, or the person prearranging the
cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis and disposition of the person’s own remains, a signed declaration designating specific instructions with respect to the disposition of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains. The bureau shall make available a form upon which the declaration shall be made. The form shall include, but not be limited to, the names of the persons with the right to control the disposition of the human remains and the person who is
contracting for the cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis services; the name of the deceased; the name of the funeral establishment in possession of the remains; the name of the crematorium, reduction facility, or hydrolysis facility; and specific instructions regarding the manner, location, and other pertinent details regarding the disposition of cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains. The form shall be signed and dated by the person arranging for the
cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis and the funeral director, employee, or agent of the funeral establishment in charge of arranging or prearranging the cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis service.
(c)A funeral director entering into a contract to furnish cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis services shall provide to the purchaser of those services, either on the first page of the contract for cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis services, or on a separate page attached to the contract, a written or printed notice containing the following information:
(1)A person having the right to control disposition of cremated remains or hydrolyzed human remains may remove the remains in a durable container from the place of cremation, hydrolysis, or interment, pursuant
to Section 7054.6 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2)If the cremated remains container or hydrolyzed human remains container cannot accommodate all cremated remains or hydrolyzed human remains of the deceased, the crematory or hydrolysis facility shall provide a larger cremated remains container or hydrolyzed human remains container at no additional cost, or place the excess in a second container that cannot easily come apart from the first, pursuant to Section 8345 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3)If the person is contracting for reduction services, the estimated volume of the reduced human remains. The person having the right to control the reduced human remains shall be given the option of receiving none, part, or all of the reduced human remains and shall be
notified, if receiving none or only part of the reduced human remains, of the location where the balance of the remains will be integrated into the soil.
(a)Every person, who for themselves or for another person, inters, cremates, reduces, or hydrolyzes a body or permits the same to be done, or removes any remains, other than cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains, from the primary registration district in which the death, cremation, reduction, or hydrolysis occurred or the body was found, except a removal by a funeral director in a funeral director’s conveyance or an officer of a duly accredited medical college engaged in official duties with respect to the body of a decedent who has willfully donated their body to the medical college from that registration district or county to another registration district or county, or within the same registration district or county, without
the authority of a burial or removal permit issued by the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or in which the body was found; or removes interred human remains from the cemetery in which the interment occurred, removes cremated remains from the premises on which the cremation occurred, removes reduced human remains from the premises on which the reduction occurred, or removes hydrolyzed human remains from the premises on which the hydrolysis occurred without the authority of a removal permit is guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable as follows:
(1)For the first offense, by a fine of not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500).
(2)For each subsequent offense, by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five
hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 60 days, or by both.
(b)Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a funeral director of a licensed out-of-state funeral establishment may transport human remains out of this state without a removal permit when
the funeral director is acting within the requirements specified in subdivision (b) of Section 103050.
(a)If the certificate of death is properly executed and complete, the local registrar of births and deaths shall issue a permit for disposition that, in all cases, shall specify any one of the following:
(1)The name of the cemetery where the remains shall be interred.
(2)Burial at sea as provided in Section 7117.
(3)The address or description of the place where remains shall be buried, scattered, or integrated into the soil.
(4)The address of the location where the
cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains will be kept, as provided in Section 7054.5 or 7054.6, under the conditions the state registrar may approve, including, but not limited to, conditions in keeping with public sensibilities, applicable laws, and reasonable assurances that the disposition will be carried out in accordance with the prescribed conditions and will not constitute a private or public nuisance.
(b)Notwithstanding any other provisions of this part relative to issuance of a permit for disposition, whenever the death occurred from a disease declared by the state department to be infectious, contagious, or communicable and dangerous to the public health,
a permit for the disposition of the body shall not be issued by the local registrar, except under conditions as may be prescribed by the state department and local health officers.
(a)A permit for disposition for the purpose of removing cremated, reduced, or hydrolyzed human remains from the place of cremation, reduction, hydrolysis, or interment shall include a description of the final place of disposition sufficient to identify the place and shall be issued by the local registrar upon application of the person having the right to control the disposition of the remains under Section 7100.
(b)A permit for disposition shall be issued under this section only upon the signed acknowledgment by the person making application that trespass and nuisance laws apply to the disposition and that the permit gives no right of unrestricted access to property not
owned by the person for the purpose of disposing of the remains.
(c)The person to whom the permit for disposition was issued shall sign the permit, endorse upon it the date of final disposition and, within 10 days, return the first copy of the permit so endorsed to the local registrar of the district in which the disposition took place. The third copy of the permit shall be returned to the office of issuance. After one year, the local registrar may destroy any original or duplicate permit retained pursuant to this section.