The definitions in this article govern the meaning of terms used in the act except as otherwise provided expressly or by necessary implication.

“Act” means the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau Act.

A “cemetery broker” is a person who, other than in reference to an occasional sale, sells or offers for sale, buys, or offers to buy, lists, leases or offers to lease, or solicits, or negotiates the purchase or sale, lease, or exchange of cemetery property or interment services, or interest therein, for his or her own account or for another.

A “cemetery salesperson” is a natural person who, other than in reference to an occasional sale, is employed by a cemetery broker to sell, or offer for sale, list or offer to list, or to buy, or to offer to buy, or to lease, or offer to lease, or to solicit, or to negotiate the purchase or sale or lease or exchange of cemetery property or interment services, or any interest therein, for his or her own account or for another.

licensed under this chapter.

A “crematory manager” is a person engaged in or conducting, or holding himself or herself out as engaged in those activities involved in, or incidental to, the maintaining or operating of a crematory licensed under this chapter, and the cremation of human remains.

The definitions in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 7000) of Part 1 of Division 7 of the Health and Safety Code are applicable to this act.

“Cemetery licensee” means any cemetery broker, cemetery salesperson, or cemetery manager.

“Crematory licensee” shall mean a corporation, partnership, or natural person licensed pursuant to Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 7712) and shall mean a cemetery licensee for purposes of disciplinary action under Article 6 (commencing with Section 7686).

“Endowment care” or “endowed care” shall include both general and special care funds.

An “occasional sale” is a sale of cemetery property not acquired or held for purposes of resale or speculation, provided such sale is not one of a series of sales sufficient in number, scope, and character to constitute engaging in the business of selling or reselling or holding for speculation cemetery property.

“Public cemetery” means a cemetery owned and operated by a city, county, city and county, or public cemetery district.

This article does not apply to any of the following:

or sets up a trust for burial purposes pursuant to Section 8775 of the Health and Safety Code, including funeral services such as mortuary, cremation, or other commodities or services furnished at the time of and in connection with that funeral or cremation.

The bureau shall disclose on its Internet Web site, information about each cemetery subject to the jurisdiction of the bureau. In addition to the information required by Section 27, the bureau shall disclose the name of the owner of each cemetery, the name of the cemetery, the business address of the cemetery owner, and the physical address of the cemetery.

to Section 8115 of the Health and Safety Code.

person subject to this subdivision shall inform the licensed cemetery manager, the licensed crematory manager, or the licensed cemetery broker upon application for employment by completing a form that shall be made available by the bureau.

space by specific periods as set forth either on the accrual or cash basis at the option of the cemetery authority.

between the corporation or any officer, employee, or stockholder thereof and the trustees of the endowment care funds with respect to those endowment care funds. The statement shall show the dates, amounts of the transactions, and shall contain a statement of the reasons for those transactions.

of the endowment care fund and special care fund, which shall include the balance sheet, the statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance.

Each cemetery authority requesting a change of filing date of the endowment care fund report from a calendar year to a fiscal year or a change in fiscal year shall file a petition with the bureau prior to the close of the year of request. The bureau may approve such petition provided that no report shall be for a period of more than 12 months.

The report shall state the name of the trustee or trustees of the endowment care fund. Any change of trustee shall be reported to the bureau within a period of 30 days after the change is made.

A copy of each annual audit report shall be transmitted to the bureau and shall be a public record. It shall also be open for public inspection at the offices of the cemetery authority during normal business hours. If the cemetery authority does not maintain offices in the county in which its cemetery is located, it shall file a copy of the annual audit report with the county clerk of the county, which shall be subject to public inspection.

disciplinary action.

the cemetery has sold for interment, the total number of spaces that have contributed to the endowment care funds of the cemetery.

repealed on January 1, 2033.

California Cities, the California State Association of Counties, the Urban Counties of California, the Rural County Representatives of California, public cemeteries, and legislative staff for the appropriate committees of the Legislature, to discuss options for ensuring continued care, maintenance, and embellishment of abandoned cemeteries, including the possibility of requiring counties to assume responsibility for maintenance, irrigation, public works, and burial services for cemeteries located within their boundaries that become abandoned.

workgroup and its recommendations no later than

June 1, 2026.

The bureau shall examine the reports filed with it as to their compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety Code as to the amount of endowment care funds collected and as to the manner of investment of those funds.

The bureau shall examine the endowment care funds of a cemetery authority:

duties.

has complied with all the laws applicable to trust funds.

shall be required to provide security for claims against it based upon acts, errors, or omissions of its licensed employees as described in subdivision (a) by complying with one, or a combination, of the following:

the maximum amount of insurance is not required to exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000) in any one designated period, less amounts paid in defending, settling, or discharging claims as set forth in this paragraph. The policy or policies may be issued on a claims-made or occurrence basis, and shall cover:

(ii) In the case of an occurrence policy, occurrences during the designated period.

(B) For purposes of this paragraph, “designated period” means a

policy year or any other designated period in the policy that is not greater than 12 months.

(C) The impairment or exhaustion of the aggregate limit of liability by amounts paid under the policy in connection with the settlement, discharge, or defense of claims applicable to a designated period shall not require the limited liability company to acquire additional insurance coverage for that designated period. The policy or policies of insurance may be in a form reasonably available in the commercial insurance market and may be subject to those terms, conditions, exclusions, and endorsements that are typically contained in those policies. A policy or policies of insurance maintained pursuant to this paragraph may be subject to a deductible or self-insured retention.

(D) Upon the dissolution and winding up of the limited liability company, the company shall, with respect to any insurance policy or policies then maintained pursuant to this paragraph, maintain or obtain an extended reporting period endorsement or equivalent provision in the maximum aggregate limit of liability required to comply with this paragraph for a minimum of three years if reasonably available from the insurer.

for a limited liability company that employs five or fewer licensed persons shall not be less than one million dollars ($1,000,000), and for a limited liability company that employs more than five licensees rendering professional services on behalf of the company, an additional one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) of security shall be obtained for each additional licensee except that the maximum amount of security is not required to exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000). The limited liability company remains in compliance with this section during a calendar year notwithstanding amounts paid during that calendar year from the accounts, funds, Treasury obligations, letters of credit, or bonds in defending, settling, or discharging claims of the type described in this paragraph, provided that the amount of those accounts, funds, Treasury obligations, letters of credit, or bonds was at least

the amount specified in the preceding sentence as of the first business day of that calendar year. Notwithstanding the pendency of other claims against the limited liability company, it shall be deemed to be in compliance with this paragraph as to a claim if within 30 days after the time that a claim is initially asserted through service of a summons, complaint, or comparable pleading in a judicial or administrative proceeding, the limited liability company has provided the required amount of security by designating and segregating funds in compliance with the requirements of this paragraph.

employees who are licensed professionals described in subdivision (a), by virtue of that person’s status as a member, thereby automatically guarantees payment of the difference between the maximum amount of security required for the limited liability company by this subdivision and the security otherwise provided in accordance with paragraphs (1) and (2), provided that the aggregate amount paid by all members under these guarantees shall not exceed the difference. Neither withdrawal by a member nor the dissolution and winding up of the limited liability company shall affect the rights or obligations of a member arising prior to withdrawal or dissolution and winding up, and the guarantee provided for in this paragraph shall apply only to conduct that occurred prior to the withdrawal or dissolution and winding up. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall affect or impair the rights or obligations

of the members among themselves, or the limited liability company, including, but not limited to, rights of contribution, subrogation, or indemnification.

alternative security provisions pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 16956 of the Corporations Code.

of subdivision (e) of Section 17701.04 of the Corporations Code, and the members shall be treated as partners with joint and several liability for claims made upon acts, errors, or omissions arising out of services provided by any licensed person described in subdivision (a).

cemetery manager, funeral director, embalmer, crematorium licensee, or other person licensed to provide services related to cemeteries and funerals has been divested of his or her ownership interest in the limited liability company or has voluntarily surrendered his or her license.

The bureau may administer oaths and examine under oath any person relative to the endowment care fund. The examination shall be conducted in the principal office of the person or body in charge of the endowment care fund and shall be private.

If any examination made by the bureau, or any report filed with it, shows that there has not been collected and deposited in the endowment care funds the minimum amounts required by the Health and Safety Code since September 19, 1939, the bureau shall require a cemetery corporation to comply with Sections 8743 and 8744 of the Health and Safety Code.

Whenever the bureau finds, after notice and hearing, that any endowment care funds have been invested in violation of the Health and Safety Code, it shall by written order mailed to the person or body in charge of the fund require the reinvestment of the funds in conformity to that code within a period which shall be not less than two years if the investment was made prior to October 1, 1949, not less than six months if the investment was made on or after October 1, 1949, and before the effective date of the amendment of this section by the 1969 Regular Session of the Legislature, and not less than 30 days if the investment is made on or after the effective date of the amendment. The period may be extended by the bureau in its discretion.

The superior court of the county in which the principal office of the cemetery authority in charge of endowment care funds is located shall, upon the filing by the bureau of a verified application showing any of the following conditions hereinafter enumerated to exist, issue its order vesting title to any endowment care funds of a cemetery authority in the bureau, and directing the bureau forthwith to take possession of all necessary books, records, property, real and personal, and assets, and to conduct as conservator, the management of such endowment care funds, or so much thereof as to the bureau may seem appropriate:

a full hearing, appear to the court that the ground for the order does not exist or has been removed and that the cemetery authority can properly resume title and possession of its property and the management of its endowment care funds.

When it has been alleged by verified petition pursuant to Section 7613.1 or when the bureau on its own investigation determines that there is probable cause to believe that any of the conditions set forth in Section 7613.9 exist or that irreparable loss and injury to the endowment care funds of a cemetery authority has occurred or may occur unless the bureau so acts immediately, the bureau, without notice and before applying to the court for any order, may take possession of the endowment care funds and the books, records, and accounts relating thereto of the cemetery authority, and retain possession subject to the order of the court. Any person having possession of and refusing to deliver any assets,

books, or records of a cemetery authority against which a seizure order has been issued by the bureau shall be guilty of a

misdemeanor and punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

8733 of the Health and Safety Code, the sum paid to the bank or trust company appointed by the bureau may exceed 5 percent of the net income derived from the endowment care fund, special care fund, or both.

If any city, county, or city and county exercises its authority to address public health, safety, or welfare issues in connection with a cemetery within its jurisdiction and if the certificate of authority of the cemetery has been revoked or suspended or has not been renewed, and the bureau holds the endowment care fund of the certificate of authority under applicable provisions of this code, the costs of any action that constitutes care, maintenance, or embellishment of the cemetery within the meaning of Section 8726 of the Health and Safety Code shall be eligible for reimbursement from available income from any endowment care fund in existence for the cemetery. For purposes of this section, local jurisdiction action may be based on charter,

ordinance, or inherent police powers. Any claim for money or damages for an act or omission by the local jurisdiction acting in accord with this section shall be subject to all otherwise applicable immunities contained in Division 3.6 (commencing with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code.

Whenever the bureau makes any seizure as provided in Section 7613.10, it shall, on demand of the bureau, be the duty of the sheriff of any county of this state, and of the police department of any municipal corporation therein, to furnish the bureau with deputies, patrolmen, or officers as may be necessary to assist the bureau in making and enforcing that seizure.

Immediately after effecting a seizure pursuant to Section 7613.10, the bureau shall institute a proceeding as provided for in Section 7613.9.

Notwithstanding any other law, the bureau shall be the custodian of all moneys collected or surrendered pursuant to Sections 7613.9 and 7613.10. As custodian, the bureau may deposit those moneys, or any part thereof, without court approval, in any of the following: a bank or trust company legally authorized and empowered by the state to act as a trustee in the handling of trust funds; in a centralized State Treasury system bank account; or in funds administered by the State Treasurer.

The bureau shall maintain, regulate, operate, and control the property situated in the County of Amador, referred to as the Elkin Property in Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings Nos. 1814 and 1817, Order Re Proposed Neptune Memorial, Disposition of the Elkin Property, and Order Re Final Disposition of Ashes of the Sacramento Superior Court, and legally described as “Parcel 16-B as shown on the certain Record or Survey for Eugene S. Lowrance, et ux, filed for record May 17, 1971, in Book 17 of Maps and Plats at page 87, Amador County Records.” The bureau shall administer and supervise endowment funds established by the court for the property. The bureau shall exercise the authority granted by this section for the sole purpose of

protecting the human remains resting on the property and preserving the property in its natural state.

The bureau is authorized to bring action to enforce the provisions of the law subject to its jurisdiction, in which actions it shall be represented by the Attorney General.

The bureau shall enforce and administer Part 1 (commencing with Section 8100), Part 3 (commencing with Section 8250), and Part 5 (commencing with Section 9501) of Division 8 of the Health and Safety Code.

In any report to the bureau, all bonds, debentures, or other evidences of debt held by a cemetery corporation if amply secured and if not in default as to principal or interest may be valued as follows:

Any security or other evidence of debt if in default as to principal or interest or if not amply secured shall not be valued as an asset of the endowment care fund above its market value.

Notwithstanding any other law, every cemetery authority shall present to the survivor of the deceased who is handling the burial or cremation arrangements or the responsible party a copy of any preneed agreement that has been signed and paid in full, or in part, by or on behalf of the deceased and is in the possession of the cemetery authority. The copy may be presented in person, by certified mail, or by facsimile transmission, as agreed upon by the survivor of the deceased or the responsible party. A cemetery authority who knowingly fails to present the preneed agreement to the survivor of the deceased or the responsible party shall be liable for a civil fine equal to three times the cost of the preneed agreement, or one thousand dollars

($1,000),

whichever is greater.