Endowment care cemeteries: reporting.

Existing law, the Cemetery and Funeral Act, establishes the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of cemeteries, crematories, funeral establishments, and their personnel. Existing law specifies that the powers and duties of the bureau shall be subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the chapter is scheduled to repealed on January 1, 2025. This bill would instead provide that the powers and duties of the bureau are subject to review as if the chapter is scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2029. Existing law authorizes a cemetery authority that maintains a cemetery to place its cemetery under endowment care and establish, maintain, and operate an endowment care fund. Existing law requires the bureau to conduct a study to obtain information to determine if the endowment care fund levels of each licensee's cemetery are sufficient to cover the cost of future maintenance, as provided, and to report its findings and recommendations to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature by January 1, 2029. This bill would require each licensed cemetery authority to provide prescribed information to the bureau for purposes of the above-described report on or before January 1, 2028. The bill would repeal the provisions relating to the above-described study on January 1, 2033, and would require the bureau to submit the report pursuant to a specified law. The bill would require the bureau, on or before July 1, 2027, to convene a workgroup to discuss options for ensuring continued care, maintenance, and embellishment of abandoned cemeteries, and would require the bureau to submit a report to the Legislature, no later than January 1, 2028, summarizing discussions of the workgroup and any recommendations. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2029. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for any cemetery corporation to make any interments without a certificate of authority, and specifies requirements for an application for a certificate of authority. Existing law, under certain conditions, authorizes the bureau to take possession of the endowment care funds and the books, records, and accounts of a cemetery authority. This bill would require the bureau, 90 days following the cancellation, surrender, or revocation of a certificate of authority, to take title of any endowment care funds of the cemetery authority, take possession of books, records, property, and assets, and act as conservator of the management of the endowment care funds in a prescribed manner, except as specified. The bill would require the bureau to appoint a bank or trust company, as specified, as sole trustee of the endowment care fund and would authorize the sum paid to the bank or trust company to exceed 5% of the net income derived from the endowment care fund, special care fund, or both. By prescribing various requirements related to the management of endowment care funds, the violation of which is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make a technical change to a provision excluding specified entities from the act. 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.