SENATE BILL NO. 823
March 05, 2020, Introduced by Senators WOJNO,
POLEHANKI, BULLOCK, ALEXANDER and MACDONALD and referred to the Committee
on Regulatory Reform.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "pet cemetery regulation act".
(a) "Columbarium" means a structure, room, or other space in a building used or intended to be used for inurnment or deposit of cremated pet remains.
(b) "Communal burial" means the interment of pet remains in a grave designed to contain more than 1 pet in compliance with 1982 PA 239, MCL 287.651 to 287.683.
(c) "Crypt" means a chamber in a mausoleum of sufficient size to entomb the uncremated remains of a deceased pet.
(d) "Dedication" means a restriction placed on the deed of certain property that restricts the property to pet cemetery use.
(e) "Endowed care fund" means money or assets that are collected or received from pet owners or others for individual burials and are placed in a trust fund to be used exclusively for the ongoing care, maintenance, operation, and supervision of the pet cemetery.
(f) "Group cremation" means the cremation of pets communally with no separation of remains.
(g) "Individual burial" means the interment of a single pet's remains in a separate grave in a nonbiodegradable container.
(h) "Individual cremation" means the cremation of a single pet's remains in a manner that separates the pet's remains from those of other pet remains.
(i) "Maintenance fee" means a fee that is collected on individual pet burials that is separate from the endowed care fund and that is placed in the general fund of the cemetery for the care and maintenance of individual pet gravesites.
(j) "Mausoleum" means a structure used, or intended to be used, for the entombment of the remains of deceased pets in a crypt or crypts in the structure.
(k) "Nonbiodegradable container" means a container that is incapable of being readily decomposed by biological means, especially by bacterial action.
(l) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental entity, or other legal entity.
(m) "Pet" means an animal that has been tamed or adapted to live in close association with human beings. Pet includes, but is not limited to, a dog, cat, bird, rabbit, hamster, fish, reptile, horse, large cat, and exotic animal.
(n) "Pet cemetery" means any land, place, structure, facility, or building provided by any person for a fee, whether or not for profit, to any person for use, or reservation for use, for the individual interment below ground or entombment above ground of pet remains. Pet cemetery does not include land used exclusively for landfilling or the communal burial of pets, but does include a portion of the land in a pet cemetery that is used for communal burial of pets. Pet cemetery includes, but is not limited to, 1 or a combination of more than 1 of the following:
(i) A burial ground for earth interment of pets.
(ii) A mausoleum for crypt entombment of pets.
(iii) A columbarium for the deposit of cremated pet remains.
(o) "Pet crematorium" means any land, structure, or facility provided by any person for a fee, whether or not for profit, to veterinarians or members of the general public for the individual or communal cremation of pets.
(p) "Pet owner" means the person who is listed in the veterinary records or pet cemetery or crematory records as the owner of a pet. If a pet owner is a minor, a parent or legal guardian is considered the owner of the pet for the purpose of the disposal form required in section 21.
(q) "Veterinarian" means that term as defined in section 18805 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.18805, or under a state or federal law applicable to that person.
Sec. 5. (1) Except as otherwise provided in section 33, the owner of any land or a portion of land that is clear of any encumbrance that is being used or proposed to be used as a pet cemetery shall file a dedication in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the land is located. The owner shall execute the dedication in the same manner and with the effect as a conveyance of an interest in land. The register of deeds shall record the dedication in the record of deeds. Unless the restriction is removed, a person shall not use land restricted as provided for in this section for any purposes other than a pet cemetery.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in section 33(1), if pet cemetery property has an encumbrance on it by a financial institution or private individual whose interest is first on the deed, the owner of record of the pet cemetery shall adopt proper and legal estate planning and trust arrangements, including a mortgage or life insurance policy, to pay in full the encumbrance on the property if the owner dies, at which time the personal representative of the estate shall file with the register of deeds a dedication as described in subsection (1).
Sec. 7. (1) Except as otherwise provided in section 33(2), a person operating a pet cemetery in this state shall establish an endowed care fund from which proceeds from a portion of the sale of the individual burial rights are placed in a trust fund established for the purposes described in this act. The proceeds must represent not less than 15% of the sale price of the cemetery plot. All fees collected for endowed care must be deposited not later than 30 days after the time of receipt of payment.
(2) Beginning on the effective date of this act, a person that operates a pet cemetery shall charge an endowed care fee to the purchaser of individual burial rights. If the endowed care fee on an individual burial remains unpaid for a period of 180 days after interment, the person that operates the pet cemetery, after serving notice to the pet owner by registered mail at the last known address of the pet owner, may reclaim the land for cemetery use and dispose of the pet's remains in a manner that the person that operates the pet cemetery so chooses under this act and 1982 PA 239, MCL 287.651 to 287.683.
(3) The income from the endowed care fund established under subsection (1) must be used for the care, maintenance, and supervision of the cemetery and may be used to satisfy property taxes and fees for accounting and annual reports. The annual report of the fund must be available by request in writing by any pet owner with burial rights to the cemetery.
(4) A person that operates a pet cemetery may include in its customary charges a maintenance fee for the immediate maintenance of the burial site except that the fee must not exceed the fee charged for endowed care. The fees for maintenance must be deposited in the general cemetery account and used for cemetery maintenance only.
(5) If a maintenance fee charged under subsection (4) for an individual burial remains unpaid for 180 days after billing, the operator of the cemetery, after serving notice on the pet owner by registered mail at the last known address of the pet owner, may reclaim the land and dispose of the pet in a manner that the cemetery operator so chooses under this act and 1982 PA 239, MCL 287.651 to 287.683.
Sec. 9. A person desiring to establish a pet cemetery shall deposit $10,000.00 in the endowed care fund established under section 7 to be handled in accordance with this act. If the cemetery has generated an additional $10,000.00 that has been placed in the endowed care fund from the individual burial of pets whose endowed care fees have been paid, the owner of the original $10,000.00 deposited into the account may then withdraw his or her funds.
Sec. 11. A person shall not operate a pet cemetery in this state that is less than 3 acres in size unless that pet cemetery was established before the effective date of this act.
Sec. 13. After the effective date of this act, a person that operates a pet cemetery that offers to make arrangements in advance of interment for individual burials shall place 130% of the costs of tangible goods, including, but not limited to, caskets and grave markers, in a preneed fund, separate from the general fund of the cemetery, to be held until the time of the pet's interment.
Sec. 15. (1) A pet owner who owns burial rights in a cemetery shall keep the operator of the pet cemetery fully informed of his or her current mailing address.
(2) If 10 years pass after the purchase of preneed burial arrangements without use or notification of a current address, the property reverts back to the owner of the pet cemetery for resale. All money held on deposit for that pet owner for tangible items may be deposited in the general fund of the pet cemetery. If the pet owner comes forward after the 10-year period, the operator of the pet cemetery shall reassign an interment right of equal value in as close proximity to the original location as possible and at no additional cost to the pet owner.
Sec. 17. A person operating a pet cemetery shall keep accurate and complete records of all burial agreements, preneed arrangements, and endowed care deposits. Copies of all records must be kept in duplicate and 1 copy must be kept in a manner that protects it from destruction by any unforeseen event.
Sec. 19. (1) A person operating a pet crematorium shall keep accurate and complete records of each pet that it cremates, including the owner's name, address, pet's name, breed, color, weight, and date of acquiring the pet's body and delivery of remains. The pet crematorium shall hold all cremation records for a period of not less than 1 year following the cremation.
(2) A person operating a pet crematorium must have the proper permits in place from the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy air quality control division and otherwise comply with applicable state and federal laws.
Sec. 21. (1) A person that operates a pet cemetery shall disclose to the pet owner disposal options available, whether communal burial, group cremation, landfill, rendering, or individual burial or cremation. The operator at the pet cemetery shall make this disclosure on a form that must be signed by the pet owner. More than 1 pet may be interred in a grave in a nonbiodegradable container if the pet owner consents in writing.
(2) If the pet owner has chosen individual burial or cremation for his or her pet, a copy of the disposal form must be provided to the person that operates the pet cemetery to keep with the pet's permanent records.
(3) If a pet owner is not available to execute the disposal form, a veterinarian in charge may execute the form acting on the written or verbal request of the pet owner.
(4) If the pet owner cannot be found, a disposal form is not required.
Sec. 23. A person that owns a parcel of land other than a pet cemetery or landfill that is used for the communal burial of pets shall file a declaration on the deed to that property stating that the land has been used as a communal pet burial ground and shall also file a copy of that declaration with the director of the department of natural resources.
Sec. 25. This act does not exempt a person establishing a pet cemetery from obtaining any use permits from the local unit of government that has jurisdiction over the land in which the pet cemetery is located or the proposed pet cemetery is to be located.
Sec. 27. An operator of a pet cemetery that has dedicated the cemetery land for the sole use of cemetery purposes and has the endowed care fund established under section 7 is exempt from the tax levied under the general property tax act, 1893 PA 206, MCL 211.1 to 211.155.
Sec. 29. (1) A court shall remove a dedication of the land under this act on proof satisfactory to the court that 1 or more of the following have occurred:
(a) No interments have been made in the dedicated land.
(b) All pet remains have been removed from the land from which the dedication is to be removed and notice was given in the manner provided for in section 31.
(c) The owner of the pet cemetery or his or her heirs or assigns have received from those persons who own burial rights in the cemetery written authorization acknowledged before a notary public to remove the dedication on the land.
(2) A person granting authorization to have a pet that is already interred in the pet cemetery removed and reinterred elsewhere shall state that fact on the authorization, and the pet cemetery owner, at the cemetery owner's expense, shall remove the pet's remains and have them reinterred elsewhere, providing proof of this removal and reinterment.
(3) If a preneed burial right purchase has been made under section 13 but has not been used and the pet cemetery owner refunds the purchase price plus interest, the interest must be computed in a manner and at a rate agreed on between the operator of the pet cemetery and the owner of the burial right but not to exceed the average current rate of interest for savings accounts.
Sec. 31. (l) If there is no current address or location of an owner of record to burial rights, the pet cemetery owner shall publish a notice in a newspaper of general circulation for a period of 2 weeks that the pet cemetery owner intends to remove the remains and reinter them in another pet cemetery within this state at the cemetery owner's expense to satisfy the court for the removal of the restriction as described in section 29.
(2) On the reinterment of all pets from the cemetery before the removal of the restriction as described in section 29, the owner of the cemetery shall transfer all necessary endowed care money from the established endowed care fund of the cemetery to the established endowed care fund or funds of the cemetery or cemeteries accepting the pets for burial so that the endowed care will continue for those pets' graves. Any remaining money in the endowed care fund must be used at the pet cemetery owner's discretion to place the cemetery back to marketable condition following the removal of all gravesites.
Sec. 33. (1) A person that owns a pet cemetery that is organized or developed and operating on the effective date of this act is exempt from complying with section 5 for 2 years after the effective date of this act.
(2) A person that owns a pet cemetery that is organized or developed and operating on the effective date of this act is exempt from complying with section 7 for 1 year after the effective date of this act.
Sec. 35. A person who violates this act is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $2,000.00, or imprisonment for not less than 90 days, or both.