2010 California Code
Health and Safety Code
Chapter 5. Interments

9060.  (a) A district shall limit interment in a cemetery owned by
the district to interment in the ground, in columbariums, and in
mausoleums, as provided in this part.
   (b) A district shall limit interments to:
   (1) Persons who are residents of the district.
   (2) Persons who are former residents of the district and who
acquired interment rights while they were residents of the district.
   (3) Persons who pay property taxes on property located in the
district.
   (4) Persons who formerly paid property taxes on property located
in the district and who acquired interment rights while they paid
those property taxes.
   (5) Eligible nonresidents of the district, as provided in this
chapter.
   (6) Persons who are family members of any person described in this
subdivision.


9061.  (a) A district may inter a person who is not a resident of
the district or a person who does not pay property taxes on property
located in the district in a cemetery owned by the district if all of
the following apply:
   (1) The district has an endowment care fund that requires at least
the minimum payment set pursuant to Section 9065.
   (2) The district requires the payment of a nonresident fee set
pursuant to Section 9068. A board of trustees may adopt a written
policy that permits waiving the payment of the nonresident fee for a
nonresident who had purchased an interment right while a resident or
a taxpayer.
   (3) The person meets the conditions listed in one or more of
subdivisions (b) through (e).
   (b) A person is an eligible nonresident pursuant to paragraph (5)
of subdivision (b) of Section 9060 if the person is a family member
of a person who is already interred in a cemetery owned by the
district or is a family member of a person who has acquired interment
rights in a cemetery owned by a district.
   (c) A person is an eligible nonresident pursuant to paragraph (5)
of subdivision (b) of Section 9060 if all of the following apply:
   (1) The person was a resident of the district or paid property
taxes on property located in the district for continuous period of at
least five years, a portion of which time period shall have occurred
within the 10 years immediately before the person's death.
   (2) The district receives a written request for the interment of
the person from a person who is a resident of the district or who
pays property taxes on property located within the district, and the
person submitting the written request is not a trustee, officer, or
employee of the district and is not a funeral director or an employee
of a funeral director.
   (3) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future.
   (d) A person is an eligible nonresident pursuant to paragraph (5)
of subdivision (b) of Section 9060 if all of the following apply:
   (1) The person was a resident of this state at the time of death.
   (2) There is no private cemetery within a straight-line radius of
15 miles of the person's residence.
   (3) There is no private cemetery nearer to the person's residence
than the nearest cemetery owned by the district.
   (4) The distances shall be measured in a straight line from the
person's residence to the nearest private cemetery and the nearest
cemetery owned by the district.
   (e) A person is an eligible nonresident pursuant to paragraph (5)
of subdivision (b) of Section 9060 if all of the following apply:
   (1) The person died while either:
   (A) Serving in the Armed Forces or the active militia, or
   (B) In the line of duty as a peace officer or firefighter.
   (2) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future.



9062.  Notwithstanding Section 9060, the board of trustees may
contract with any county in which the district is located to inter
persons for whose interment the county is responsible pursuant to
Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 27460) of Division 2 of Title 3
of the Government Code or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 7100) of
Part 1 of Division 7 of this code, if all of the following apply:
   (a) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future.
   (b) The district has an endowment care fund that requires at least
the minimum payment set pursuant to Section 9065.
   (c) The contract requires the county to pay the costs of the
interment, including a payment to the district's endowment care fund.



9063.  Notwithstanding Section 9060, the Oroville Cemetery District
may use its cemetery on Feather River Boulevard, north of Oro Dam
Boulevard for up to a total of 100 interments, for interment in the
ground of any person who is not a resident of the district if all of
the following apply:
   (a) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future.
   (b) The district has an endowment care fund that requires at least
the minimum payment set pursuant to Section 9065.
   (c) The district requires the payment of a nonresident fee set
pursuant to Section 9068.



9063.5.  Notwithstanding Section 9060, the Elsinore Valley Cemetery
District may use the portion of its cemetery formerly known as Home
of Peace for up to a total of 536 interments, for interment in the
ground of any person who meets the criteria for burial in that area
but is not a resident of the district if all of the following apply:
   (a) The board of trustees determines that the cemetery has
adequate space for the foreseeable future.
   (b) The district has an endowment care fund that requires at least
the minimum payment set pursuant to Section 9065.
   (c) The district requires the payment of a nonresident fee set
pursuant to Section 9068.



9064.  (a) The board of trustees shall cause to be prepared and
maintained accurate and current records of:
   (1) The cemeteries owned by the district, showing the location of
the sites where persons have acquired interment rights, including the
names and addresses of the persons who have acquired these interment
rights, and the location of plots where interment rights are
available for acquisition.
   (2) All remains interred in cemeteries owned by the district,
including the name of each person, his or her age at the time of
death, place of death, date of interment, the interment plot, and the
name and address of the funeral director.
   (b) A district may keep the records required by this section in
their original form or by any other method that can produce an
accurate reproduction of the original record.



9065.  (a) The board of trustees shall create an endowment care
fund.
   (b) The board of trustees shall require a payment into the
endowment care fund for each interment right sold. The amount of the
payment shall be not less than the minimum amounts set by Section
8738.
   (c) The board of trustees may require a payment into the endowment
care fund for each interment where no payment has previously been
made. The amount of the payment shall be not less than the minimum
amounts set by Section 8738.
   (d) The board of trustees may pay into the endowment care fund any
money from the district's general fund and from any other sources
which is necessary or expedient to provide for the endowment care of
the cemeteries owned by the district.
   (e) The board of trustees shall not spend the principal of the
endowment care fund.
   (f) The board of trustees shall cause the income from the
endowment care fund to be deposited in an endowment income fund and
spent solely for the care of the cemeteries owned by the district.



9066.  The board of trustees shall cause the principal of the
endowment care fund to be invested and reinvested in any of the
following:
   (a) Securities and obligations designated by Section 53601 of the
Government Code.
   (b) Obligations of the United States or obligations for which the
faith and credit of the United States are pledged for the payment of
principal and interest. These shall not be limited to maturity dates
of one year or less.
   (c) Obligations issued under authority of law by any county,
municipality, or school district in this state for which are pledged
the faith and credit of that county, municipality, or school district
for the payment of principal and interest, if within 10 years
immediately preceding the investment that county, municipality, or
school district was not in default for more than 90 days in the
payment of principal or interest upon any legally authorized
obligations issued by it.
   (d) Obligations of the State of California or those for which the
faith and credit of the State of California are pledged for the
payment of principal and interest.
   (e) Interest-bearing obligations issued by a corporation organized
under the laws of any state, or of the United States, provided that
they bear a Standard and Poor's financial rating of AAA at the time
of the investment.
   (f) Certificates of deposit or other interest-bearing accounts in
any state or federally chartered bank or savings association, the
deposits of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation.



9067.  The board of trustees may cause the funds deposited in the
endowment income fund pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 9065
that are not required for the immediate care of the cemeteries owned
by the district to be invested in the securities and obligations
designated by Section 53601 of the Government Code.



9068.  (a) The board of trustees shall adopt a schedule of fees for
interments in cemeteries owned by the district and for other
necessary and convenient services.
   (b) The board of trustees shall also adopt a schedule of fees for
nonresidents. The board of trustees shall set these fees at an amount
that at least equals the amount of fees charged to residents or
taxpayers and shall include a nonresident fee of at least 15 percent
of that amount.


9069.  (a) A district may seek the abandonment of an interment plot
in a cemetery owned by the district pursuant to this section.
   (b) The board of trustees shall file a petition with the superior
court of the principal county which contains all of the following:
   (1) An identification of the interment plot that the district
desires to be declared abandoned.
   (2) A statement that the district has made a diligent search to
locate the present owner of the interment plot.
   (3) A statement that the present owner of the interment plot is
unknown to the district.
   (4) A statement that, to the best knowledge of the district, at
least 50 years have passed since any portion of the interment plot
has been used for interment purposes.
   (5) A statement that, after a reasonable physical investigation of
the interment plot, the interment plot has not been used for the
interment of human remains.
   (6) A request that the court declare the interment plot abandoned.
   (c) Upon the filing of a petition pursuant to subdivision (b), the
clerk of the superior court shall set a time for a hearing on the
petition.
   (d) After the clerk of the superior court has set the hearing, the
district shall give notice of the court's hearing. The notice shall
identify the interment plot that the district desires to be declared
abandoned, state the name and address of the last known owner of the
interment plot, state that the court will hold a hearing to determine
whether to declare the interment plot abandoned, and state the time
and place of the court's hearing. The district shall give notice of
the court's hearing by publishing a notice pursuant to Section 6061
of the Government Code in at least one newspaper of general
circulation within the jurisdiction of the district at least 10 days
before the hearing. The district shall post the public notice in at
least three public places within the jurisdiction of the district, at
least 10 days before the hearing. One of the public places shall be
at the interment plot that the district desires to be declared
abandoned, and one of the public places shall be at the offices of
the district. In addition, the district shall mail the notice by
certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 10 days before the
hearing to the last known owner of the interment plot.
   (e) At the time set for the hearing, the superior court shall hear
and consider any evidence that is introduced in favor or, and any
objections to, the abandonment of the interment plot. The court may
continue its hearing from time to time. The court shall determine
from the evidence presented whether the facts stated in the district'
s petition are true. The court shall dismiss any portion of the
district's petition if the court determines that any of the facts
stated in that portion of the petition are not true, or if the court
determines the identity of the present owner of the interment plot.
If the court determines that the facts stated in the district's
petition are true, the court may order that the interment plot shall
be deemed abandoned and full title shall revert to the district. The
superior court's order shall not become final until one year after
the date on which the court made its order.
   (f) Within 30 days after the date on which the superior court made
its order, the district shall give notice of the court's order. The
notice shall identify the interment plot that the district desires to
be declared abandoned, state the name and address of the last known
owner of the interment plot, and state the date on which the court's
order will be final. The district shall give notice of the court's
order by publishing a notice pursuant to Section 6061 of the
Government Code in at least one newspaper of general circulation
within the jurisdiction of the district. The district shall post the
public notice in at least three public places within the jurisdiction
of the district. One of the public places shall be at the interment
plot that the district desires to be declared abandoned, and one of
the public places shall be at the offices of the district. In
addition, the district shall mail the notice by certified mail,
return receipt requested, to the last known owner of the interment
site.
   (g) At any time before the superior court's order becomes final,
any person may petition the court to reopen the proceeding. Upon
receiving a petition and after giving notice to the district, the
court may reopen the proceeding. The court may hear and consider any
additional evidence regarding the facts in the district's petition.
The court may amend its previous order. If the court determines that
any of the facts stated in any portion of the district's petition are
not true, or if the court determines the identify of the present
owner of the interment plot, the court shall dismiss that portion of
the district's petition.
   (h) The interment plot shall be deemed abandoned on the date on
which the superior court's order becomes final. The district shall
record the court's order in the office of the county recorder of the
county in which the interment plot is located. Upon recordation of
the court's order, the district is the owner of the interment plot
and the district may resell the interment rights.
   (i) If, after the proceedings taken pursuant to this section, the
district discovers the presence of human remains in the interment
plot, the district shall make reasonable efforts to identify the
remains. The district shall close and appropriately mark the
interment plot. The district shall offer the new owner of the
interment rights in that interment plot comparable interment rights
in another interment plot. The district shall not be liable for any
claims for damages if the district has proceeded pursuant to this
section.