Bill > S1215

This bill establishes the Massachusetts Cemeteries Board of Oversight, a new entity within the executive office of health and human services, to regulate cemetery operations across the state. The board will be composed of six members, including the commissioner of public health (or a designee), the undersecretary of consumer affairs (or a designee), a representative from the attorney general's office, an employee from the secretary of the commonwealth's corporations division, and two appointees by the governor: one from the Massachusetts Cemetery Association, Inc., and one from the Massachusetts Municipal Association with knowledge of cemetery operations. These appointed members will serve three-year terms. The board's responsibilities include creating rules for cemetery operations, overseeing the registration of cemeteries, processing applications and issuing registration certificates, collecting fees (with exemptions for veterans and municipal cemeteries), investigating complaints, and employing inspectors. Crucially, any governing body, which refers to the entity responsible for a cemetery, must register their cemetery with this new board to legally own, operate, or maintain it, and will be required to submit detailed information about the cemetery's ownership, finances, and operations annually, with failure to renew registration potentially leading to daily fines.