Report to the General Assembly (Published)

Document Title

Local Government Issues Related to Neglected or Abandoned For-Profit Cemeteries

Author

Commission on Local Government

Enabling Authority

SJR 319 (1997)

Executive Summary

Pursuant to the request set forth in Senate Joint Resolution 319, the
Commission on Local Government, in cooperation with the Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Association of Counties, the
Virginia Municipal League, and the Virginia Cemetery Association, examined
"the local government issues related to the upkeep and maintenance of
certain neglected or abandoned for-profit cemeteries .'I The resolution
directed the Commission to exclude from its study not-for-pro€it private
Cemeteries.

As a consequence of its analysis of the issues, the Commission
concluded that there exists a need (1) to strengthen the State's oversight of
for-profit cemeteries, (2) to extend and refine measures to ensure the
integrity and adequacy of the trust funds established by cemetery companies
for the maintenance of their facilities, (3) to clarify and extend the authority
of local government with respect to the operation and maintenance of
cemeteries, and (4) to provide more effective means of protecting the
public's interests.

The Commission's study also disclosed a disparity in the scope and
nature of the law governing funeral homes and cemeteries in Virginia. The
legal framework applicable to cemeteries is less extensive than that
governing the operation of funeral homes in the State. The difference in the
degree of public oversight of the two industries is relevant to the issues
addressed in this study due to the emergence of corporate bodies that
provide both funeral and cemetery services. Based upon this emerging
reality and the interdependence of the two industries, the Commission
concluded that a single State body should be established to oversee the
functioning of both funeral homes and cemeteries in Virginia. To that end,
the Commission proposes that the responsibility of the Board of Funeral
Directors and Embalmers be broadened to include the authority to oversee
and regulate for-profit cemeteries, with the name and composition of that
body being changed to reflect its expanded authority. With respect to the
regulation of for-profit cemeteries, the Commission recommends that the
restructured organization be given the authority (1) to register such facilities
and their sales personnel, (2) to prescribe in detail the financial records to
be maintained by cemetery operators, (3) to establish guidelines for use by
commissioners of revenue in maintaining the integrity and adequacy of the
trust funds created by cemeteries, and (4) to develop a model ordinance to
guide local governments in the development of local ordinances for
overseeing the operation and maintenance of burial grounds. Although the
Commission recommends no general statewide increase in minimum
trusting levels for cemeteries, it suggests that the General Assembly direct
the proposed new State regulatory body or other appropriate entity to
examine this issue at some point in the future.