Brief (1)
SB 557 creates a new act providing for the regulation and licensing of crematories by the State Board of Mortuary Arts and amends several existing statutes to include crematories. The bill also increases the majority of the statutory fee maximums applicable to fees the Board is authorized to charge and creates new fees.
The bill defines a crematory as a business premises that houses the cremation chamber where dead human bodies are cremated and makes it unlawful for any person who does not have a crematory authority license to operate, offer to operate, advertise, or represent such person as operating a crematory. Each crematory is to be under the personal supervision of a licensed funeral director or embalmer, except any cemetery-owned crematory in existence on or before July 1, 2000, is exempt from this provision. The bill sets out the procedure to be followed by crematories already in existence prior to the effective date of the bill in applying for a license; requires biennial renewal of licenses; sets out what is to be in the forms provided by the Board for an application for an initial license or a license renewal; requires a crematory authority to have an authorizing form signed by an authorizing agent, a term not defined in the bill, prior to cremation and sets out what is to be in the authorizing form; provides that no body may be cremated with a pacemaker or other hazardous device in place and makes the authorizing agent ultimately responsible for ensuring that any such devices are removed; sets out in the law the specifics of how human remains are to be maintained prior to cremation, procedures to be followed at the time of actual cremation, and how cremated remains are to be packed and shipped; makes any person who signs a form authorizing cremation personally and individually liable for all damages occasioned thereby and resulting therefrom; authorizes the Board of Mortuary Arts to adopt rules and regulations; and authorizes a crematory authority, a term not defined in the bill, to adopt rules and regulations for the management and operation of a crematory that are not inconsistent with the state law.
SB 557 makes maintenance or operation of a building or structure as a crematory in violation of the law a public nuisance and authorizes the abatement thereof; makes holding oneself out as a crematory authority without being licensed or performing a cremation without a signed authorization form a class A nonperson misdemeanor; makes signing a cremation authorization form knowing the form contains incorrect or false information a class A nonperson misdemeanor; and makes violation of any other provision of the act created by SB 557 a class A nonperson misdemeanor. The bill also makes it a crime for any officer or agent of any crematory required to pay a cremation license fee to fail, neglect, or refuse to pay such fee. Any officer or agent who fails, neglects, or refuses to pay a license fee is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
The bill preempts the provisions of any existing laws that govern dead human bodies and human remains if such laws do not specifically address cremation.
KSA 65-1723, a statute that sets out the powers of the Board of Mortuary Arts in relation to the licensing and regulation of funeral directors and assistant funeral directors, is amended by SB 557 to add references to crematories. KSA 65-1732, a statute that sets out the procedure to be followed by a funeral establishment when cremated human remains are not claimed prior to disposing of such remains, is amended to shorten from 120 to 90 days from the time of cremation the time the funeral establishment must hold the cremated remains before disposal and to allow the commingling of cremated remains for the purpose of disposal, noting that such commingling of remains would make them unrecoverable. KSA 1999 Supp. 65-1727, the statute that sets out the fees the Board is authorized to collect and the statutory maximum fees, is amended to increase the maximums for all but four of the existing fees and to create a new embalmers/funeral directors application fee, a new crematory license fee, a new funeral establishment/crematory fee, and a new branch establishment/crematory license fee.
The last new section of SB 557 which was identical to SB 556 was deleted from the bill by the Senate Committee of the Whole amendment.
SB 557 would not become effective until January 1, 2001.
Background
The introduction of SB 557 was requested by the Board of Mortuary Arts whose representative also testified in favor of the bill. A representative of the Kansas Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association also presented testimony in support of the bill. The latter Association also requested an amendment that was adopted by the Senate Committee. According to information given to the Senate Committee, there are currently 14 crematories operating in Kansas, of which all but one are located in conjunction with a funeral establishment. The Committee was also given information about the increase in cremations that has occurred in recent years and the need for state regulation of crematories.
According to the fiscal note, the Board of Mortuary Arts estimates passage of SB 557 would result in $5,050 in additional revenues derived from 13 funeral establishment/crematory licenses and one crematory license. Twenty percent, or $1,010, of the increased revenues would be transferred to the State General Fund. According to the fiscal note, the Board does not anticipate raising other fees immediately. Passage of the bill would not require additional Board personnel to carry out the provisions of the bill. Therefore, enactment of SB 557 would result in an increase over the amounts included in The FY 2001 Governor's Budget Report. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html