Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of funeral directors, funeral establishments, and embalmers, by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau pursuant to the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law, and a violation of the law is a crime. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of cemetery managers, cemetery brokers, cemetery salespersons, crematories, and crematory managers, pursuant to the Cemetery Act, by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. Existing law directs charges imposed under the law and the act to be deposited into the State Funeral Directors and Embalmers Fund or the Cemetery Fund, respectively. Under existing law, these funds are continuously appropriated. Existing law, the Cemetery Act, requires the bureau to survey each of its licensees to obtain information to determine if the endowment care fund levels of the licensee's cemetery are sufficient to cover the cost of future operation, as specified, and required the bureau to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by January 1, 2008. This bill would consolidate the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law and the Cemetery Act into the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau Act. The bill, beginning July 1, 2016, would direct charges imposed under the act to be deposited into the renamed Cemetery and Funeral Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Because additional moneys would be deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would subject the powers and duties of the bureau to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and require the review to be performed as if the act is scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2020. The bill would require the bureau to conduct a study to obtain information to determine if the endowment care fund levels of its licensees' cemeteries are sufficient to cover the cost of future maintenance, as specified, and to report its findings and recommendations to those policy committees by January 1, 2018. The bill would no longer require an applicant to include specified information or proof when applying to become a funeral director. The bill would also remove obsolete references and make additional nonsubstantive changes. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 205 of the Business and Professions Code, proposed by AB 177 and AB 179 that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last.