Bill Text: MI SB1046 | 2023-2024 | 102nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Cemeteries and funerals: other; pet cemetery regulation act; create. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-10-23 - Referred To Committee On Regulatory Affairs [SB1046 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2023-SB1046-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 1046
A bill to regulate pet cemeteries; to regulate the sale of pet cemetery merchandise and services; and to prescribe penalties and remedies.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1. This act 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 pet.
(d) "Dedication" means a restriction that is placed on the deed of certain property and 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 a pet cemetery.
(f) "Group cremation" means the communal cremation of pets in a manner that does not separate the remains.
(g) "Individual burial" means the interment of a single pet's remains in a separate grave and 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 an individual pet burial, is separate from the endowed care fund, and is placed in the general fund of the pet 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 pet remains in a crypt or crypts.
(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 or a partnership, corporation, limited liability company, 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, big cat, and exotic animal.
(n) "Pet cemetery" means any land, place, structure, facility, or building provided by any person for a fee, regardless of profit, to any person for use, or reservation for use, for the individual interment belowground or entombment aboveground of pet remains. Pet cemetery does not include land used exclusively for landfilling or the communal burial of pets but does include the portion of land in a pet cemetery that is used for the communal burial of pets. Pet cemetery also includes, but is not limited to, 1, or a combination of more than 1, of the following:
(i) A burial ground for the earth interment of pets.
(ii) A mausoleum for the 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, regardless of profit, to veterinarians or members of the general public for individual or group cremation.
(p) "Pet owner" means the person that is listed in the veterinary records or pet cemetery or crematorium records as the owner of a pet. If a pet owner is a minor, a parent or legal guardian of the minor is considered the owner of the pet for the purpose of a disposal form required under 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 another state law or federal law applicable to that person.
Sec. 5. (1) Except as provided in section 33, the owner of any land or a portion of land that is clear of any encumbrance and 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 same 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 under this section for a purpose other than a pet cemetery.
(2) Except as provided in section 33, 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 ceases to exist, 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 provided in section 33, a person operating a pet cemetery in this state shall establish an endowed care fund for the placement of proceeds from a portion of the sale of individual burial rights. The proceeds must represent not less than 15% of the sale price of the pet cemetery plot. All fees collected for endowed care must be deposited not later than 30 days after the time of receiving payment.
(2) Beginning on the effective date of this act, a person that operates a pet cemetery shall charge an endowed care fee to a 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 operator of the pet cemetery, after serving notice on the pet owner by registered mail at the last known address of the pet owner, may reclaim the land for pet cemetery use and dispose of the pet's remains in a manner that the pet cemetery operator chooses under this act and 1982 PA 239, MCL 287.651 to 287.683.
(3) The income from an endowed care fund under subsection (1) must be used for the care, maintenance, and supervision of the pet cemetery and may be used to satisfy property taxes and fees for accounting and annual reports. An annual report of the endowed care fund must be available on written request by a pet owner with burial rights in the pet cemetery.
(4) A person that operates a pet cemetery may include in its customary charges a maintenance fee for the immediate maintenance of a burial site, except that the fee must not exceed the fee charged for endowed care. Payment for the maintenance fee must be deposited in the general pet cemetery account and used for pet 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 pet cemetery, after serving notice on the pet owner by registered mail at the last known address of the pet owner, may reclaim the land for pet cemetery use and dispose of the pet in a manner that the pet cemetery operator chooses under this act and 1982 PA 239, MCL 287.651 to 287.683.
Sec. 9. A person that desires to establish a pet cemetery shall deposit $10,000.00 in the endowed care fund under section 7 to be handled in accordance with this act. If the pet 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 withdraw the owner's funds.
Sec. 11. A person shall not operate a pet cemetery in this state that is less than 3 acres in size, unless the 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 and offers to make arrangements in advance of interment for an individual burial shall place 130% of the costs of tangible goods, including, but not limited to, caskets and grave markers, in a preneed fund that is separate from the general fund of the pet cemetery and is to be held until the time of the pet's interment.
Sec. 15. (1) A pet owner who owns burial rights in a pet cemetery shall keep the operator of the pet cemetery fully informed of the pet owner's current mailing address.
(2) If 10 years pass after the purchase of preneed burial arrangements without use or notification of the pet owner's current mailing 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 has passed, 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 for not less than 1 year after the cremation. The records must include all of the following:
(a) The pet owner's name and mailing address.
(b) The pet's name, breed, color, and weight.
(c) If the pet is microchipped and the person has a device that can obtain information about the pet that is stored in the microchip, all of that information.
(d) The date or dates that the pet crematorium acquired the pet's remains and delivered the remains.
(2) A person operating a pet crematorium must have any necessary permits in place from the air quality division of the department of environment, Great Lakes, and energy and otherwise comply with applicable state and federal laws.
Sec. 21. (1) A person that operates a pet cemetery shall disclose the disposal options available to a pet owner, whether communal burial, group cremation, landfill, rendering, or individual burial or cremation. Except as otherwise provided under subsection (2), the pet cemetery operator shall make the disclosure on a form that must be signed by the pet owner. More than 1 pet may be interred in a grave and in a nonbiodegradable container if the pet owner consents to the interment in writing.
(2) All of the following apply to a disposal form described in subsection (1):
(a) If a pet owner has chosen individual burial or cremation for the pet owner's pet, a copy of the disposal form must be provided to the person that operates the pet cemetery and kept with the pet's permanent records.
(b) If a pet owner is not available to execute the disposal form, a veterinarian in charge may execute the form on the written or verbal request of the pet owner.
(c) If a 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 the land that states that the land has been used as a communal pet burial ground. The person shall also file a copy of the 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 pet cemetery land for the sole use of pet cemetery purposes and has established the endowed care fund 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 land under this act on proof satisfactory to the court that 1 or more of the following have occurred:
(a) An interment has not 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 under section 31.
(c) The owner of the pet cemetery or the owner's heirs or assigns have received, from those persons who own burial rights in the pet 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 pet cemetery owner's expense, shall remove the pet's remains, have the remains reinterred elsewhere, and provide the person with proof of the 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 the interest rate must not exceed the average current interest rate for savings accounts.
Sec. 31. (l) To satisfy a court for the removal of a restriction as described in section 29, if there is no current mailing address or location for an owner of record to burial rights in a pet cemetery, 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 in this state at the pet cemetery owner's expense.
(2) On the reinterment of all pets from a pet cemetery before the removal of a restriction as described in section 29, the owner of the pet cemetery shall transfer all necessary endowed care money from the established endowed care fund of the pet cemetery to the established endowed care fund or funds of the pet 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 pet 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 until the date that is 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 until the date that is 1 year after the effective date of this act.
Sec. 35. A person that violates this act is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not less than 90 days, a fine of not less than $2,000.00, or both.
