Assembly Bill No. 402–Assemblymen Freeman and Marvel

 

CHAPTER..........

 

AN ACT relating to cemeteries; authorizing the adoption of ordinances in certain counties allowing the designation of family cemeteries; revising the authority and procedure for ordering the disinterment and removal of human remains; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

   Section 1. Chapter 451 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a

new section to read as follows:

    1.  The board of county commissioners of a county whose

population is less than 50,000 may adopt an ordinance allowing one or

more natural persons to designate as a family cemetery an area of land

owned by any of those persons for the interment in that area without

charge of any member of the family of any of them or any other person.

   2.  Before the first interment in a family cemetery designated in

accordance with an ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection 1, a

member of the family or a representative of the family shall notify the

health division of the department of human resources of the designation

of the family cemetery and its specific location on the land owned by the

family.

    Sec. 2.  NRS 451.069 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.069  As used in NRS 451.070 to [451.340,] 451.330, inclusive,

“cemetery authority” means any natural person, partnership, association,

corporation or public entity, including the University and Community

College System of Nevada or any cemetery district, owning or leasing the

land or other property of a cemetery or operating a cemetery as a business

in this state.

   Sec. 3.  NRS 451.070 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.070  [The governing body of any incorporated city] A cemetery

authority may order the disinterment and removal of all human remains

interred in all or any part of any cemetery [situated within its limits,

whenever the governing body, by ordinance, declares] if the cemetery

authority or a governmental authority determines that the further

maintenance of all or any part of the cemetery as a burial place for the

human dead is not in accordance with the health, safety, comfort or welfare

of the public[.] or if the cemetery authority determines that financial

provision must be made for future care of gravesites within a specified

area.

   Sec. 4.  NRS 451.080 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.080  1.  The [governing body of such a city may in any ordinance

ordering or directing the disinterment and removal of such remains]

cemetery authority may prescribe reasonable regulations governing the

manner of making disinterments and removals and providing for

reinterment in a portion of the existing cemetery or in any other cemetery

or for deposit of the remains in any memorial mausoleum or columbarium

[.] or for providing appropriate future care.

   2.  The [ordinance] cemetery authority must prescribe a reasonable

time of not less than 1 year [in] after which the [removal of remains may

be made by the cemetery authority, or by the owners or holders of

interment spaces, or by the relatives or friends of those whose remains are

interred in the cemetery, and may also provide that if the remains are not

removed within the period fixed, the city will itself] cemetery authority

may proceed to remove the remains and reinter them in another cemetery

or deposit them in a memorial mausoleum or columbarium.

   Sec. 5.  NRS 451.110 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.110  1.  Notice of a [declaration of intention] determination to

remove the human remains from all or any part of any cemetery [shall]

must be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation

published in the city, or the county if the cemetery is in an

unincorporated area, in which the cemetery or the portion from which

removals are to be made is situated. Publication [shall] must be at least

once a week for [2 successive months.] 4 consecutive weeks.

   2.  The notice must specify the period after which the cemetery

authority may remove the remains.

   Sec. 6.  NRS 451.260 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.260  After the completion of notice and after the expiration of the

period [of 10 months] specified in the notice, [any] the cemetery authority

may cause the removal of all human remains interred in the cemetery or

portion from which the remains have been ordered removed, and may

reinter such remains in other cemeteries in this state where interments are

permitted, without further notice to any person claiming any interest in the

cemetery, or portion affected, or in the remains interred therein.

    Sec. 7. NRS 451.280 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.280  Whenever human remains have been ordered removed under

the provisions of NRS 451.069 to [451.340,] 451.330, inclusive, and the

cemetery authority has made and published notice of [intention] the

determination to remove such remains, the portions of the cemetery in

which no interments have been made, and those portions from which all

human remains have been removed, may be sold, mortgaged or otherwise

encumbered as security for any loan or loans made to the cemetery

authority.

   Sec. 8. NRS 451.310 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.310  If, [prior to the adoption of an ordinance pursuant to the

provisions of NRS 451.069 to 451.340, inclusive,] before receiving notice

of any determination made by a governmental authority pursuant to NRS

451.070, any cemetery authority has in good faith entered into any

agreement to sell or has granted any option to buy all or any portion of its

cemetery lands for a price reasonable at the time the agreement to sell was

made, or the option granted, the district court shall confirm the sale at the

price stipulated in the agreement to sell or the option to buy.

   Sec. 9. NRS 451.330 is hereby amended to read as follows:

   451.330  After all remains have been removed from a cemetery in

accordance with the provisions of NRS 451.069 to [451.340,] 451.330,

inclusive, the dedication may be removed from all or any part of such

cemetery lands by an order and decree of the district court of the county in

which the property is situated, in a proceeding brought for that purpose and

upon notice of hearing and proof satisfactory to the court:

   1.  That all bodies have been removed, or that no interments were

made; and

   2.  That the property is no longer used or required for interment.

   Sec. 10.  NRS 451.090, 451.100, 451.120, 451.200, 451.210, 451.220,

451.230, 451.240 and 451.250 are hereby repealed.

 

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