Chapter 731 Oregon Laws 1999

Session Law

AN ACT

HB 3378

Relating to cemeteries; creating new provisions; amending ORS 65.875, 128.640, 166.076 and 692.275; repealing ORS 97.770, 97.771, 97.773, 97.775, 97.777 and 97.779; and declaring an emergency.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. For purposes of sections 1 to 8 of this 1999 Act, "pioneer cemetery" means any burial place that contains the remains of one or more persons who died before February 14, 1909.

SECTION 2. (1) There is established within the State Parks and Recreation Department the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission consisting of seven members appointed by the State Parks and Recreation Director.

(2) The term of office of each member is four years, but a member serves at the pleasure of the director. Before the expiration of the term of a member, the director shall appoint a successor whose term begins on July 1 next following. A member is eligible for reappointment. If there is a vacancy for any cause, the director shall make an appointment to become immediately effective for the unexpired term.

(3) A member of the commission is entitled to compensation and expenses as provided in ORS 292.495.

SECTION 3. Notwithstanding the term of office specified by section 2 of this 1999 Act, of the members first appointed to the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission:

(1) One shall serve for a term ending July 1, 2000.

(2) Two shall serve for terms ending July 1, 2001.

(3) Two shall serve for terms ending July 1, 2002.

(4) Two shall serve for terms ending July 1, 2003.

SECTION 4. The members of the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission must be citizens of this state who are well informed on the restoration and maintenance of pioneer cemeteries. The State Parks and Recreation Director shall select members from nominations made by organizations of local pioneer cemeteries, organizations of nonprofit cemeteries, the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board and statewide cemetery associations. The director shall try to appoint individuals to the commission who represent or are knowledgeable concerning Native American burial places, rural cemeteries, family burial places and metropolitan cemeteries.

SECTION 5. (1) The Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission shall select one of its members as chairperson and another as vice chairperson for such terms and with duties and powers necessary for the performance of the functions of such offices as the commission determines.

(2) A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business.

(3) The commission shall meet at least once every three months at a place, day and hour determined by the commission. The commission also shall meet at other times and places specified by the call of the chairperson or of a majority of the members of the commission.

SECTION 6. The Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission shall:

(1) Maintain a listing of all pioneer cemeteries in this state.

(2) Assist in coordination of restoration, renovation and maintenance of Oregon's pioneer cemeteries.

(3) Make recommendations to the State Parks and Recreation Director for projects and funding to help maintain and improve Oregon's pioneer cemeteries.

(4) Obtain grant funding and seek legislative appropriations for individual pioneer cemeteries and groups of pioneer cemeteries.

(5) Make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly for changes in law that will help protect pioneer cemeteries as part of Oregon's heritage.

(6) Assist the director in locating and listing pioneer cemeteries.

(7) Assist cemeteries listed as pioneer cemeteries with the commission to rehabilitate and maintain those cemeteries and to promote public education relating to pioneer and historic cemeteries.

(8) Establish a process to obtain advice from authorities on the subject of the care of old grave markers and graveyards as part of any restoration process.

SECTION 7. A pioneer cemetery that is not an operating cemetery, as defined in ORS 692.010, shall be listed with the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission. An owner or any other person or association of individuals that maintains such a pioneer cemetery shall list the pioneer cemetery with the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission on a form provided by the commission. No fee shall be required from a pioneer cemetery for listing.

SECTION 8. The State Parks and Recreation Department shall provide support services to the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission. One staff person of the department shall be the executive secretary of the commission.

SECTION 9. ORS 65.875 is amended to read:

65.875. (1) As used in this section, "plan" means a document indicating the placement of lots or burial spaces, and of the niches or inurnment spaces in the buildings erected thereon, as established and authorized by the cemetery authority.

(2) A nonprofit corporation organized and existing solely for the purposes of owning and operating a cemetery or cremating dead bodies and burying and caring for incinerate remains shall cause a plan of its land and grounds and of the lots laid out by it and of the niches or burial space in the buildings erected thereon to be made and recorded in the county in which such grounds and land are located, such lots or spaces to be numbered by regular consecutive numbers. Such corporation may enclose, improve, and adorn the grounds, buildings, and avenues, prescribe rules for the designation, improvement and adorning of lots and burial spaces and for erecting monuments, and prohibit any use, division, improvement or adornment of a lot or burial space which it may deem improper.

SECTION 10. ORS 128.640 is amended to read:

128.640. (1) ORS 128.610 to 128.750 do not apply to the United States, any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or to any of their agencies or governmental subdivisions.

(2) ORS 128.650 to 128.670 and 128.720 do not apply to:

(a) Any religious corporation sole or other religious corporation or organization which holds property for religious purposes, or to any officer, director or trustee thereof who holds property for like purposes;

(b) A cemetery [corporation regulated under ORS 65.855 to 65.875] that is registered with the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board under ORS 692.275 or a pioneer cemetery listed with the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission under section 7 of this 1999 Act;

(c) A trustee that holds property for charitable purposes in the event that the sole beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust serves as trustee; or

(d) A child-caring agency regulated under ORS 418.215 to 418.265.

SECTION 11. ORS 692.275 is amended to read:

692.275. (1) The application for a certificate of authority to conduct the business of an operating cemetery shall be made on a form provided by the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board. The application shall be accompanied by the application fee established under ORS 692.160. However, any operating cemetery that has five or fewer interments annually is entitled to receive a certificate of authority to operate upon payment of the initial fee but is not required to pay the renewal fee.

(2) A cemetery, other than an operating cemetery or a pioneer cemetery listed with the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission under section 7 of this 1999 Act, shall be registered with the board. An owner of a cemetery, other than an operating cemetery or a pioneer cemetery listed with the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission under section 7 of this 1999 Act, shall register the cemetery with the board on a form provided by the board. No fee shall be required of a cemetery registrant.

(3) The person who plans to operate a crematorium shall apply before operation for a certificate of authority to operate a crematorium on a form provided by the board. The application shall be accompanied by the application fee established under ORS 692.160.

(4) For purposes of this section and ORS 692.025, each location of a cemetery or crematorium is a separate location and must be licensed separately. Those cemeteries that are subject to registration shall be registered separately.

(5) The recommendation of the Cremation Association of North America shall be used in adopting rules regulating crematoriums.

(6) This section applies to operating cemeteries or other cemeteries owned by any city, county or other municipal corporation.

SECTION 12. ORS 166.076 is amended to read:

166.076. (1) A person commits the crime of abuse of a memorial to the dead if the person intentionally:

(a) Destroys, mutilates, defaces, injures or removes any:

(A) Tomb, monument, gravestone or other structure or thing placed as or designed for a memorial to the dead; or

(B) Fence, railing, curb or other thing intended for the protection or for the ornamentation of any structure or thing listed in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; or

(b) Destroys, mutilates, removes, cuts, breaks or injures any tree, shrub or plant within any structure listed in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(2) Abuse of a memorial to the dead is a Class A misdemeanor.

(3) This section does not apply to a person who is the burial right owner or that person's representative, an heir at law of the deceased, or a person having care, custody or control of a cemetery by virtue of law, contract or other legal right, if the person is acting within the scope of the person's legal capacity and the person's actions have the effect of maintaining, protecting or improving the tomb, monument, gravestone or other structure or thing placed as or designed for a memorial to the dead.

SECTION 13. (1) The Pioneer Cemetery Commission is abolished. On the effective date of this 1999 Act, the tenure of office of the members of the Pioneer Cemetery Commission shall cease.

(2) There are transferred to the Oregon Pioneer Cemetery Commission all the supplies, materials, equipment, records, books, papers and facilities of the Pioneer Cemetery Commission.

SECTION 14. ORS 97.770, 97.771, 97.773, 97.775, 97.777 and 97.779 are repealed.

SECTION 15. This 1999 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 1999 Act takes effect July 1, 1999.

Approved by the Governor July 15, 1999

Filed in the office of Secretary of State July 15, 1999

Effective date July 15, 1999

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