BILL NUMBER: AB 2283 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Miller
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Sections 7003, 7006, 7006.5, 7010, 7010.5,
7051, 7052.5, 7054.3, 7054.4, 7054.7, and 7055 of, to add Section
7001.5 to, and to add Article 8 (commencing with Section 8365)
to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 8 of , the Health and
Safety Code, relating to alkaline hydrolysis.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2283, as amended, Miller. Disposition of human remains:
alkaline hydrolysis.
Under existing law, the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau licenses and
regulates crematoria and various professions relating to the
disposition of human remains. Existing law defines cremation,
residue, cemetery, and crematory, and requires a written
acknowledgment containing specified information from the person
entitled to control the disposition of cremated remains.
Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor.
This bill would define "alkaline hydrolysis," as specified,
would change the definition of cremation to include alkaline
hydrolysis, and would make conforming changes to other definitions.
The bill would require a written acknowledgment containing
specified information from the person authorized to control the
remains to be disposed of through alkaline hydrolysis. The bill would
require the bureau, not later than July 1, 2011, to adopt
regulations for the safe operation of alkaline hydrolysis chambers.
By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7001.5 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
7001.5. "Alkaline hydrolysis" means a chemical dissolution
process using heat, high pressure water, and potassium hydroxide to
hydrolyze human tissue and the consumable container.
SEC. 2. Section 7003 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7003. "Cemetery" means either of the following:
(a) Any of the following that is used or intended to be used and
dedicated for cemetery purposes:
(1) A burial park, for earth interments.
(2) A mausoleum, for crypt or vault interments.
(3) A crematory and columbarium, for cinerary interments
the interment of cremated remains .
(b) A place where six or more human bodies are buried.
SEC. 3. Section 7006 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7006. "Crematory" means a building or structure containing one or
more furnaces cremation chambers for
the reduction of bodies of deceased persons to cremated remains.
SEC. 4. Section 7006.5 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
7006.5. "Cremation container" means a combustible or
consumable , closed container resistant to leakage of bodily
fluids into which the body of a deceased person is placed prior to
insertion in a cremation chamber for cremation.
SEC. 5. Section 7010 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7010. "Cremation" means the process by which the following three
steps are taken:
(a) The reduction of the body of a deceased human to its essential
elements by incineration or alkaline hydrolysis .
(b) The repositioning or moving of the body or remains during
incineration to facilitate the process.
(c) The processing of the remains after removal from the cremation
chamber pursuant to Section 7010.3.
SEC. 6. Section 7010.5 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7010.5. "Residue" means human ashes, bone fragments, prostheses,
and disintegrated material from the chamber itself, imbedded in
cracks and uneven spaces of a cremation chamber, that cannot be
removed through reasonable manual contact with sweeping or scraping
equipment. Material left in the cremation chamber, after the
completion of a cremation, that can be reasonably removed shall not
be considered "residue." Residue shall not mean the effluent
discharged following alkaline hydrolysis.
SEC. 7. Section 7051 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7051. Every person who removes any part of
any human remains from any
a place where it has been interred, or from any
a place where it is deposited while awaiting
interment or cremation, with intent to sell it or to dissect it,
without authority of law, or written permission of the person or
persons having the right to control the remains under
pursuant to Section 7100, or with malice or
wantonness, has committed a public offense that is punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison.
This section shall not prohibit the removal of foreign materials,
pacemakers, or prostheses from cremated remains by an employee of a
licensed crematory prior to final processing of ashes
. Dental gold or silver, jewelry, or mementos, to the
extent that they can be identified, may be removed by the employee
prior to final processing if the equipment is such that it will not
process these materials. However, any dental gold
and silver, jewelry, or mementos that are removed shall be returned
to the urn or cremated remains container, unless otherwise directed
by the person or persons having the right to control the disposition.
SEC. 8. Section 7052.5 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7052.5. Notwithstanding the provisions of
Section 7052, cremated remains may be removed from the place of
interment for disposition as provided in Section 7054.6 ,
Section 7116, or for burial at sea as provided in Section 7117.
SEC. 9. Section 7054.3 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
7054.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, a recognizable dead human fetus of less than 20 weeks
uterogestation not disposed of by interment shall be disposed of by
incineration cremation .
SEC. 10. Section 7054.4 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
7054.4. Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, recognizable anatomical parts, human tissues, anatomical human
remains, or infectious waste following conclusion of scientific use
shall be disposed of by interment, incineration , alkaline
hydrolysis , or any other method determined by the state
department to protect the public health and safety.
As used in this section, "infectious waste" means any material or
article which that has been, or
that may have been, exposed to contagious or infectious
disease.
SEC. 11. Section 7054.7 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
7054.7. (a) Except with the express written permission of the
person entitled to control the disposition of the remains, no person
shall:
(1) Cremate the remains of more than one person at the same time
in the same cremation chamber, or introduce the remains of a second
person into a cremation chamber until incineration or alkaline
hydrolysis of any the preceding
remains has been terminated and reasonable efforts have been employed
to remove all fragments of the preceding remains. The fact that
there is residue in the cremation chamber or other equipment or
any container used in a prior cremation is not a
violation of this section.
(2) Dispose of or scatter cremated remains in a manner or in a
location that the remains are commingled with those of another
person. This paragraph shall not apply to the scattering of cremated
remains at sea from individual containers or to the disposal in a
dedicated cemetery of accumulated residue removed from a cremation
chamber or other cremation equipment.
(3) Place cremated or uncremated remains of more than one person
in the same container or the same interment space. This paragraph
shall not apply to the following:
(A) Interment of members of the same family in a common container
designed for the cremated remains of more than one person.
(B) Interment in a space or container that has been previously
designated at the time of sale as being intended for the interment of
remains of more than one person.
(C) Disposal in a dedicated cemetery of residue removed from a
cremation chamber or other cremation equipment.
(b) Written acknowledgement If the remains
are being cremated by incineration, written acknowledgment
from the person entitled to control the disposition of the cremated
remains shall be obtained by the person with whom
arrangements are made for disposition of the remains on a
crematory on a cremation authorization form that includes,
but is not limited to, the following information: "The human body
burns with the casket, container, or other material in the cremation
chamber. Some bone fragments are not combustible at the incineration
temperature and, as a result, remain in the cremation chamber. During
the cremation, the contents of the chamber may be moved to
facilitate incineration. The chamber is composed of ceramic or other
material which disintegrates slightly during each cremation and the
product of that disintegration is commingled with the cremated
remains. Nearly all of the contents of the cremation chamber,
consisting of the cremated remains, disintegrated chamber material,
and small amounts of residue from previous cremations, are removed
together and crushed, pulverized, or ground to facilitate inurnment
or scattering. Some residue remains in the cracks and uneven places
of the chamber. Periodically, the accumulation of this residue is
removed and interred in a dedicated cemetery property, or scattered
at sea." The acknowledgment shall be filed and retained, for
at least five years, by the person who disposes of or inters the
remains.
(c) If remains are being cremated through alkaline hydrolysis,
written acknowledgment from the person entitled to control the
disposition of cremated remains shall be obtained by the crematory on
a cremation authorization form that includes, but is not limited to,
the following information: "During the chemical dissolution process,
heat, high pressure water, and potassium hydroxide are used to
hydrolyze the human tissue and the consumable container. After the
process is complete, the sterile liquid solution is cooled and
released in accordance with local environmental regulations. A hot
water rinse is then applied to the cremated remains, which are then
dried, crushed, pulverized, or ground to facilitate interment or
scattering."
(d) The acknowledgment required pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c)
shall be contained within the cremation authorization and retained
as crematory records pursuant to Section 8343.
(c)
(e) Any person, including any corporation or
partnership, knowingly violating any provision of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
SEC. 12. Section 7055 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
7055. (a) Every person, who for himself or herself or for another
person, inters or incinerates cremates
a body or permits the same to be done, or removes any
remains, other than cremated remains, from the primary
registration district in which the death or incineration
cremation occurred or the body was found, except
a removal by a funeral director in a funeral director's conveyance
or an officer of a duly accredited medical college engaged in
official duties with respect to the body of a decedent who has
willfully donated his or her body to the medical college from that
registration district or county to another registration district or
county, or within the same registration district or county, without
the authority of a burial or removal permit issued by the local
registrar of the district in which the death occurred or in which the
body was found; or removes interred human remains from the cemetery
in which the interment occurred, or removes cremated remains from the
premises on which the cremation occurred without the authority of a
removal permit is guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable as follows:
(1) For the first offense, by a fine of not less than ten dollars
($10) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500).
(2) For each subsequent offense, by a fine of not less than fifty
dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) or
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 60 days, or by
both.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a funeral director of a
licensed out-of-state funeral establishment may transport human
remains out of this state without a removal permit when he or she is
acting within the requirements specified in subdivision (b) of
Section 103050.
SECTION 1. SEC. 13. Article 8
(commencing with Section 8365) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of
Division 8 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
Article 8. Alkaline Hydrolysis
8365. Not later than July 1, 2011, the Cemetery and Funeral
Bureau shall adopt regulations for the safe operation of alkaline
hydrolysis chambers.
SEC. 2. SEC. 14. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.