H 3408 Session 109 (1991-1992)
H 3408(Rat #0562) General Bill, By Kirsh
A Bill to amend Chapter 55, Title 39, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to the South Carolina Cemetery Act of 1984, so as to revise the South
Carolina Cemetery Board and its powers and duties and the requirements for
funeral vaults, cemeteries, and licenses; and to terminate the programs,
functions, and regulations of the South Carolina Cemetery Board June 30,
1996.-amended title
01/31/91 House Introduced and read first time HJ-463
01/31/91 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and
Industry HJ-464
03/28/91 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Labor,
Commerce and Industry HJ-3
04/03/91 House Debate adjourned until Tuesday, April 9, 1991 HJ-11
04/09/91 House Debate adjourned until Thursday, April 11, 1991 HJ-10
04/11/91 House Amended HJ-45
04/11/91 House Read second time HJ-49
04/11/91 House Unanimous consent for third reading on next
legislative day HJ-49
04/12/91 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-17
04/16/91 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-16
04/16/91 Senate Referred to Committee on General SJ-16
04/25/91 Senate Committee report: Majority favorable, minority
unfavorable General SJ-37
05/29/91 Senate Special order SJ-49
06/05/91 Senate Amended SJ-93
01/29/92 Senate Recommitted to Committee on General SJ-46
06/02/92 Senate Polled out of committee General SJ-48
06/02/92 Senate Favorable with amendments SJ-49
06/02/92 Senate Read second time
06/02/92 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of amendments
06/04/92 Senate Amended SJ-134
06/04/92 Senate Read third time and returned to House with
amendments SJ-134
06/04/92 House Concurred in Senate amendment and enrolled HJ-59
06/04/92 Ratified R 562
01/13/93 Vetoed by Governor
01/26/93 House Veto sustained Yeas-50 Nays-54
(Rxxx, H3408)
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 55, TITLE 39, CODE OF LAWS
OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE SOUTH
CAROLINA CEMETERY ACT OF 1984, SO AS TO REVISE THE
SOUTH CAROLINA CEMETERY BOARD AND ITS POWERS AND
DUTIES AND THE REQUIREMENTS FOR FUNERAL VAULTS,
CEMETERIES, AND LICENSES; AND TO TERMINATE THE
PROGRAMS, FUNCTIONS, AND REGULATIONS OF THE SOUTH
CAROLINA CEMETERY BOARD JUNE 30, 1996.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
South Carolina Cemetery Act
SECTION 1. Chapter 55, Title 39 of the 1976 Code is amended by
striking the chapter and inserting:
"Chapter 55
Cemeteries
Section 39-55-15. The provisions of this chapter are known and may
be cited as the "South Carolina Cemetery Act".
Section 39-55-25. It is found to be necessary in the public interest that
cemeteries, burial grounds, and any agreement or contract which has for a
purpose the furnishing or delivering of any person, property, or
merchandise of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a
dead human body, must be subject to sufficient regulation by the State to
ensure that sound business practices are followed by all entities subject to
the provisions of this chapter.
Section 39-55-35. As used in this chapter, unless otherwise stated or
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
1. `Board' means the South Carolina Cemetery Board.
2. `Cemetery' means a place used, dedicated, or designated for
cemetery purposes including any one or combination of:
(a) perpetual care cemeteries;
(b) burial parks for earth interment;
(c) mausoleums;
(d) columbariums.
3. `Cemetery company' means any legal entity that owns or controls
cemetery lands or property and conducts the business of a cemetery,
including all cemeteries owned and operated by cemetery sales
organizations or cemetery management organizations or any other legal
entity.
4. `Columbarium' means a structure or building substantially exposed
aboveground intended to be used for the interment of the cremated
remains of a deceased person.
5. `Grave space' means a space of ground in a cemetery intended to be
used for the interment in the ground of the remains of a deceased
person.
6. `Human remains' or `remains' means the body of a deceased person
and includes the body in any stage of decomposition.
7. `Mausoleum' means a structure or building substantially exposed
aboveground, intended to be used for the entombment of the remains of a
deceased person.
8. `Perpetual care' means the maintenance and the reasonable
administration of the cemetery grounds and buildings in keeping with a
properly maintained cemetery. In the event that a cemetery offers
perpetual care for some designated sections of its property but does not
offer perpetual care to other designated sections, the cemetery must be
considered a perpetual care cemetery for the purposes of this chapter.
9. `Person' means an individual, corporation, partnership, joint
venture, or association.
10. `Vault' means a crypt or underground receptacle which is used for
interment in the ground and is designed to encase and protect caskets or
similar burial devices. For the purposes of this chapter a vault is a preneed
item until delivery to the purchaser at the selling cemetery.
11. `Memorial' means a bronze marker set approximately level with
the turf for the purpose of identification, or interchanged to mean upright
markers in garden sections which are plotted and specified for the use of
upright markers. The term `marker' is herein interchanged with the term
`memorial'.
12. `Merchandise' means items used in connection with grave space,
niches, mausoleum crypts, granite, memorials, or vaults; provided,
however, merchandise shall expressly exclude burial caskets, clothing,
cremation urns, professional services, facilities used for preparation,
viewing, or services, and automotive equipment and transportation. Items
expressly excluded under the definition of merchandise in this provision
shall be governed by Chapter 7 of Title 32.
13. `Trust institution' means any state or national bank, state or
federal savings and loan association, or trust company authorized to act in
a fiduciary capacity in this State.
Section 39-55-45. For the purposes of administering the provisions of
this chapter, there is established a South Carolina Cemetery Board with
the power and duty to promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions
of this chapter.
Section 39-55-55. The board consists of ten members, seven of whom
must be appointed by the Governor. The Secretary of State, the
Administrator of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Attorney
General or their designees are nonvoting members ex officio. Two
appointed members must be public members who have no financial
interest in and are not involved in the management of a cemetery or
funeral related business, four members must be owners or managers of
cemeteries in this State who may be selected from nominees submitted by
the South Carolina Cemetery Association, and one member must be a
monument dealer in this State who may be selected from nominees
submitted by the Monument Builders of the Carolinas. Of the seven
appointed members, three of the initial board must be appointed for a term
of two years, two for a term of three years, and two for a term of four
years. At the end of their respective terms, successors must be selected in
the same manner and appointed for terms of four years and until their
successors are appointed and qualify. Nominations for appointment may
be received by the Governor from an individual, a group, or an association
in this State. An appointment to fill a vacancy on the board is for the
balance of the unexpired term in the manner of the original
appointment.
Section 39-55-65. The board shall elect annually a chairman, vice-chairman, and a secretary-treasurer. Notice of all regular meetings may be
advertised in three newspapers having general circulation in the State ten
or more days in advance of the meetings. Each member of the board shall
receive the usual mileage, per diem, and subsistence as provided by law
for members of state boards, committees, and commissions. All expenses
of the board must be paid from fees received by the board.
Section 39-55-75. The board must meet at least semiannually and may
hold special meetings at any time and place within the State at the call of
the chairman or upon written request of at least four members.
Section 39-55-85. The board shall prepare an annual budget and shall
collect the sums of money required for the budget from yearly fees and
any other sources provided for in this chapter. On or before July first of
each year, each licensed cemetery shall pay a license fee of at least one
hundred dollars.
Section 39-55-95. (A) No legal entity may engage in the business of
operating a cemetery company, except as authorized by this chapter,
without first obtaining a license from the board.
(B) A legal entity wishing to establish a cemetery shall file a written
application for authority to do so with the board on forms prescribed and
provided by it.
(C) Upon receipt of the application and a nonrefundable filing fee of
at least four hundred dollars the board shall cause an investigation to be
made to establish the following criteria for approval of the application:
(1) creation of a legal entity to conduct a cemetery business and
the proposed financial structure;
(2) establishment and maintenance of an irrevocable care and
maintenance trust fund agreement with a trust institution doing business in
this State, with an initial deposit of not less than fifteen thousand dollars
and a bank cashier's or certified check attached for the amount and
payable to the trustee with the trust executed by the applicant and accepted
by the trustee, conditioned only upon the approval of the application;
(3) presentation of a plat of the land to be used for a cemetery
showing the county or municipality and the names of roads and access
streets or ways;
(4) designation by the legal entity, wishing to establish a
cemetery, of a general manager who must be a person having had not less
than one year's experience in the cemetery business;
(5) presentation of development plans sufficient to ensure the
community that the cemetery will provide adequate cemetery services and
that the property is suitable for use as a cemetery.
(D) The board, after receipt of the investigating report and within
ninety days after receipt of the application, shall grant or refuse to grant
the authority to organize a cemetery.
(E) If the board intends to deny an application, it shall give written
notice to the applicant of its intention to deny. The notice must state a
time and place for a hearing before the board and a summary statement of
the reasons for the proposed denial. The notice of intent must be mailed
by certified mail to the applicant at the address stated in the application at
least fifteen days before the scheduled hearing date. An appeal from the
board's decision is to the circuit court.
(F) If the board intends to grant the authority it shall give written
notice that the authority to organize a cemetery has been granted and that a
license to operate will be issued upon the completion of the following:
(1) establishment of the irrevocable care and maintenance trust
fund and receipt by the board of a certificate from the trust institution
certifying receipt of the initial deposit required under this chapter;
(2) development, ready for burial, of not less than two acres,
certified by inspection of the board or its representative;
(3) presentation of a description, by metes and bounds, of the
acreage tract of the proposed cemetery, with evidence, by title insurance
policy or certificate or certification by an attorney at law, that the
applicant is the owner in fee simple of the tract of land, which must
contain not less than thirty acres and that the fee simple title of the tract of
not less than thirty acres is free and clear of encumbrances. In counties
with a population of less than thirty-five thousand inhabitants according to
the latest official United States census the tract needs to be only fifteen
acres.
(4) submission to the board for its approval a copy of
regulations defined in Section 39-55-130.
Section 39-55-100. (A) Where the excavation can be accomplished
without drilling or the use of equipment other than a shovel, funeral vaults
must be at least ten inches below the earth's surface. As used in this
section, `funeral vaults' means caskets, grave liners, or other outer burial
containers. It does not include markers, monuments, or crypts constructed
in a mausoleum or columbarium.
(B) This section does not apply to cemeteries located in the
coastal/lowland areas which are subject to tidal or surface flooding or have
a high-level water table, except that vaults may be placed level with the
ground in coastal/lowland cemeteries where the water table is at least two
feet below ground level and which cemeteries are not subject to tidal or
surface water flooding.
(C) Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two
hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days.
Section 39-55-105. In any case where a person proposes to purchase
or acquire control of an existing cemetery either by purchasing the
outstanding capital stock of any cemetery company or the interest of the
owner and, thereby to change the control of the cemetery company, the
person must make application on a form prescribed and provided by the
board for a license change. The application shall contain the name and
address of the proposed new owner. The application for a license change
must be accompanied by an initial filing fee of one hundred dollars to
cover an investigation, if required.
Section 39-55-115. (A) In addition to other powers and duties
conferred by this chapter upon the board, it also has the following:
(1) examine the licensee's records and, if the board considers it
advisable, assess applicable fees provided for in this chapter or by
regulation;
(2) investigate, upon its own initiative or upon a verified
complaint in writing, the actions of a person engaged in the business or
acting in the capacity of a licensee under this chapter. A license may be
revoked or suspended by the board for not more than two years or until
compliance with a lawful order imposed in the final order of suspension,
or both, if the licensee in performing or attempting to perform acts
specified in this chapter:
(a) fails to pay the required fees;
(b) fails to make required reports;
(c) fails to remit to the care and maintenance trust fund or
merchandise trust fund the required amounts;
(d) makes a substantial misrepresentation;
(e) makes a false statement likely to influence or persuade;
(f) continually and flagrantly misrepresents or makes false
promises through cemetery agents or salesmen;
(g) violates this chapter or regulations promulgated by the
board; or
(h) acts in a manner which constitutes fraud or dishonest
dealing, whether of the same or a different character than specified in this
section.
When the board finds it necessary to bring an action in the name of the
State in the circuit court of the county in which the licensed place of
business is located against a person who is the director, the owner, or an
officer of a cemetery company to enjoin the person from engaging in or
continuing a violation of this chapter or regulations or orders promulgated
pursuant to it. In an action of this nature an order or judgment may be
entered by the court awarding a temporary restraining order, temporary
injunction, or permanent injunction. Before this action may be brought,
the board shall give the person at least thirty days' notice in writing stating
the alleged violation and giving the person an opportunity within that
period to correct the violation or to request by certified mail a hearing
before the board. In addition to other powers under law governing the
issuance and the enforcement of a temporary restraining order, temporary
injunction, or a permanent injunction, the court has the power and
jurisdiction to impound and appoint a receiver for the property and
business of the person, including books, papers, documents, and records,
or so much of these as the court considers reasonably necessary to prevent
further violation of this chapter or of regulations or orders promulgated
pursuant to it through or by means of the use of the property and business.
The board may institute proceedings against the cemetery or its officers or
owners where, after an examination, pursuant to this chapter, a shortage in
the care and maintenance trust fund is discovered so as to recover the
shortage. The board in its discretion may enter into a written compliance
agreement requiring the cemetery or its offices or owners to fund the
discovered shortage within a certain time in the discretion of the board.
The time may not exceed two years after the discovery of the shortage.
(B) The Administrative Procedures Act applies to proceedings under
this chapter for the revocation or suspension of licenses.
Section 39-55-125. (A) A record must be kept of every lot owner
and every burial in the cemetery showing the date of purchase, date of
burial, name of the person buried and of the lot owner, and space in which
the burial was made. Sales, trust funds, accounting records, and other
records of the licensee must be available at the licensee's principal place of
business at reasonable times for examination by the chairman or other
authorized representative of the board. In addition, the owner of a
perpetual care cemetery shall have the records of the perpetual care
cemetery examined annually by a licensed public accountant and shall
submit a copy of the report to the board.
(B) A record must be kept of each written complaint received, action
taken, and disposition of complaint. These records must be available for
examination by the chairman or other authorized representative of the
board.
(C)(1)(a) The owner of a cemetery shall adopt and enforce regulations
for the use, care, control, management, restriction, and protection of the
cemetery and its parts and subdivisions, the use of property within a
cemetery, the introduction and care of plants or shrubs within the grounds,
the conduct of persons and prevention of improper assemblages, and other
purposes considered necessary by the owner of the cemetery for the proper
conduct of the business of the cemetery and the protection of the premises
and the principles on which the cemetery was organized. The owner may
amend or abolish the regulations pursuant to item (4).
(b) The regulations must be printed or typewritten plainly,
posted conspicuously, and maintained subject to inspection at the usual
place for transacting the regular business of the cemetery. However, no
cemetery licensed under this chapter may adopt a regulation in conflict
with this chapter or in derogation of the contract rights of lot owners.
(2)(a) The owner of a cemetery shall establish reasonable
regulations regarding the type material, design, composition, finish,
specifications, and installation of merchandise to be used in the cemetery.
However, no regulation may be adopted which:
(i) requires the owner or purchaser of a lot to purchase a
monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument or marker
from the cemetery company;
(ii) restricts the right of the owner or purchaser of a lot to
purchase a monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument
from the vendor of his choice;
(iii) charges the owner or purchaser of a lot a fee for purchasing
a monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument from a
vendor or charges a vendor a fee for delivering or installing the
monument. (iv) discriminates against an owner or a purchaser of a
lot who has purchased a monument or services related to installation of a
monument from a vendor.
(b) subitem (a) does not prohibit the cemetery from charging the
owner or purchaser of a lot a reasonable fee for services actually
performed by the cemetery relating to the installation, care, and
maintenance of a monument or marker, including, but not limited to, the
survey, recording, and supervision of the monument or marker, whether or
not it is purchased from a cemetery or an outside vendor.
(c) These regulations must be posted conspicuously and
maintained, subject to inspection, at the usual place for transacting the
regular business of the cemetery. No cemetery owner may prevent the use
of merchandise purchased by a lot owner or his representative, agent,
heirs, or assigns from any source if the merchandise meets cemetery
regulations.
(3) When a cemetery lot is sold the cemetery shall disclose on
the sales contract cemetery services for which there may be a later charge.
When a monument, marker, or memorial is sold by a cemetery company,
the cemetery shall provide on the sales contract an itemized statement of
the fees charged for installation, care, and maintenance of it. Fees charged
for installation, care, and maintenance of a monument, marker, or
memorial must be shown on the statement as charges separate from its
price, and the statement must disclose the amount of fees to be placed in
trust by the cemetery company. The board shall promulgate regulations to
provide a form for the disclosure of fees and services.
(4) Regulations established, amended, or abolished by a
cemetery pursuant to this subsection must be submitted to the board for its
approval.
Section 39-55-135. No cemetery company is permitted to establish a
perpetual care cemetery or to operate an already-established perpetual care
cemetery without providing for the future care and maintenance of the
cemetery, for which a trust fund must be established to be known as `the
care and maintenance trust fund of (name of licensee)'. If any perpetual
care cemetery company refuses or otherwise fails to provide or maintain
an adequate care and maintenance trust fund in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter, the board, after reasonable notice, must proceed
to enforce compliance. The trust fund agreement shall contain the name,
location, and address of both the licensee and the trustee, showing the date
of the trust agreement and the deposit in the trust of the required funds.
No person may transfer the corpus of the care and maintenance trust fund
without first obtaining written consent from the board.
Section 39-55-145. At the time of making a sale or receiving the
initial deposit on the sale of grave space, niche, or mausoleum crypt, the
cemetery company shall deliver to the person to whom the sale is made, or
who makes the deposit, an instrument in writing which shall specifically
state that the net income of the care and maintenance trust fund must be
used solely for the care and maintenance of the cemetery, for reasonable
costs of administering the care and maintenance and for reasonable costs
of administering the trust fund. This information may be included in the
sales contract.
Section 39-55-155. No cemetery may cause or permit advertising of a
perpetual care fund in connection with the sale or offer for sale of its
property unless the amount deposited in the care and maintenance trust
fund is equal to not less than twenty dollars or ten percent of the sale
price, whichever is greater, per grave space and niche and fifty dollars per
mausoleum crypt sold or five percent of the sales price, whichever is
greater. Also, for any memorial or grave marker for installation in a
cemetery wherein perpetual care is promised or guaranteed, the cemetery
shall transmit to the care and maintenance trust fund an amount equal to
eight cents per square inch of the memorial's or the marker's base. All
deposits must be made within sixty days upon receipt of final payment.
Not more than one year after the effective date of this act, and periodically
thereafter at its discretion, the board shall complete a formal study to
determine whether the amounts required under this section to be placed in
the care and maintenance trust fund are adequate to continue to provide
perpetual care in a cemetery after all grave spaces are sold. The board
shall report its findings, along with any recommendations for statutory
changes, to the Governor and to the General Assembly.
Section 39-55-165. Within ninety days after the end of the calendar or
fiscal year of the cemetery company, the trustee shall furnish adequate
financial reports with respect to the care and maintenance trust fund on
forms prescribed and provided by the board. The board may require the
trustee to make any additional financial reports the board considers
advisable.
Section 39-55-175. The care and maintenance trust fund must be
invested and reinvested by the trustee in the same manner as provided by
law for the investment of other trust funds. The fees and other expenses of
the trust fund must be paid by the trustee from the net income of the trust
fund and may not be paid from the corpus. To the extent that the net
income is not sufficient to pay the fees and other expenses, they must be
paid by the cemetery company.
Section 39-55-185. (A) A person receiving funds from the sale of
merchandise for use in a cemetery in connection with the burial or
commemoration of a deceased human being when the use of the
merchandise is not requested or required immediately shall deposit the
funds in a merchandise trust fund administered by a trust institution.
The cemetery company shall maintain a record of each deposit into the
account, identify the name of the purchaser, the amount of the actual cost
to the seller, and the amount of money to be deposited, and maintain a
copy of the contract for the merchandise. This section does not prohibit
the trustee from commingling the deposits in a trust fund of this kind to
manage and invest the funds.
(B) When a memorial, a mausoleum crypt, or other merchandise is
sold in advance of need and not installed until a later date, one hundred
percent of the actual cost to the seller at the time of deposit must be placed
in a trust institution within sixty days after completion of the contract with
interest to accrue and must not be withdrawn without the consent of the
purchaser until the time of delivery or construction.
(C)(1) The funds must be held in a merchandise trust fund as to
principal and income earned and must remain intact, except that the cost
of the operation of the trust may be deducted from the income until
delivery of the merchandise is made by the cemetery company or other
entity. Upon delivery of the merchandise, the cemetery company or other
entity shall certify these facts to the trustee. Upon this certification, the
amount of money on deposit to the credit of that particular contract,
including principal and income, must be paid to the cemetery company or
other entity. The trustee may rely upon certifications of this kind and is
not liable for this reliance.
(2) If a cemetery company or other entity which has entered into
a contract for the sale of merchandise cannot or does not provide within a
reasonable time the merchandise that has been paid for fully and called for
by the contract after request in writing to do so, the purchaser or his heirs,
assigns, or authorized representative may receive the amount paid on the
contract and income earned by the merchandise trust fund for that
particular item. Reasonable time excludes riots, strikes, acts of war, or
delays beyond the control of the cemetery company or other entity.
(D) After payment in full and before delivery of merchandise, a
purchaser may make written demand for a refund of the amount deposited
in the merchandise trust fund to the credit of the purchaser, and, within
thirty days of receipt of the written demand, the trustee shall refund to the
purchaser the amount on deposit to his credit, less reasonable commission
fees and administrative costs, with interest, dividends, increases, or
accretions earned on the fund. Upon the refund, the cemetery company is
relieved from further liability for this merchandise.
(E) The trustee, annually and within ninety days after the end of the
calendar year, shall file a financial report, signed by a licensed accountant,
of the merchandise trust fund with the board on forms provided by the
board setting forth the principal, investments, and payments made and the
income earned and disbursed. The board may require the trustee to make
additional financial reports the board considers advisable.
(F) The board may examine the business of a cemetery company or
other entity writing contracts for the sale of the property or services
described in this section. The written report of the examination must be
filed in the office of the board. A person or an entity being examined shall
produce the records of the company needed for the examination.
(G) A provision of a contract for the sale of merchandise described in
this section which provides that the purchaser or beneficiary may waive
this section is void.
(H) Cemetery owners shall have a full and complete schedule of
charges for services provided by the cemetery plainly printed or
typewritten, posted conspicuously, and maintained subject to inspection
and copying at the usual place for transacting the regular business of the
cemetery.
(I) A cemetery company or other entity failing to make required
contributions to a care and maintenance trust fund or to a merchandise
trust fund is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be
punished as in Section 39-55-265.
(J) If a report is not received within the required time, the board may
levy and collect a penalty of twenty-five dollars a day for each day of
delinquency.
Section 39-55-195. Application for renewal of licenses must be
submitted on or before July first of each year in the case of an existing
cemetery company. Before any sale of cemetery property may take place
in the case of a new cemetery company or in the case of a change of
ownership or control, as provided in Sections 39-55-105 and 39-55-115,
an application for a license must be submitted and a license must have
been issued.
Section 39-55-205. No license issued under this chapter is
transferrable or assignable and no licensee may develop or operate any
cemetery authorized by this chapter under any name or any location other
than that contained in the license.
Section 39-55-215. (a) Each licensee shall set aside a minimum of
thirty acres of land for use as a cemetery, except as may otherwise be
provided in this chapter, and may not sell, mortgage, lease, or encumber
it.
(b) The fee simple title in any lands owned by the licensee and
dedicated for use by the licensee as a cemetery, which lands are
continuous, adjoining or adjacent to the minimum acreage described in
subsection (a), may be sold, conveyed, or disposed of by the licensee for
use by the new owner for purposes other than as a cemetery if no bodies
have been previously interred and if any titles, interests, or burial rights
which may have been sold or contracted to be sold in these lands are
reconveyed to the licensee before the consummation of any
conveyance.
(c) Any licensee may convey and transfer to a municipality or county
its real and personal property, together with monies deposited with the
trustee, if the municipality or county accepts responsibility for
maintenance and prior written approval of the board is obtained.
(d) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) relating to a requirement
for minimum acreage do not apply to those cemeteries licensed by the
board on or before July 1, 1984, which cemeteries own or control a total
of less than the minimum acreage, but these cemeteries may not dispose of
any of the lands.
Section 39-55-225. (a) A cemetery company is required to start
construction of that section of a mausoleum or bank of belowground
crypts in which sales, contracts for sale, reservations for sales, or
agreements for sales are being made within thirty-six months after the date
of the first sale, or refund the money. The construction of the mausoleum
section or bank of belowground crypts must be completed within five
years after the date of the first sale. Extensions for completion, not to
exceed one year, may be granted by the board for good reasons
shown.
(b) After construction has begun on the mausoleum section or bank
of belowground crypts, the cemetery company shall certify the progress
and expenditures to the trustee and is entitled to withdraw all funds
deposited to the trust account.
(c) If the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts is not
completed within the time limits set out in this section, the trustee must
contract for and cause the project to be completed and paid for from the
trust funds deposited to the project's account. Any balance, less costs and
expenses, must be paid to the cemetery company. If not enough funds
have been deposited to the escrow trust fund to complete the project, the
cemetery company shall be liable for any shortage.
(d) In lieu of the payments to the escrow trust fund the cemetery
company may deliver to the board a performance bond in an amount and
by surety companies acceptable to the board.
Section 39-55-235. All cemeteries in this State, except family burial
grounds, shall display a sign at each entrance, containing letters not less
than six inches in height, stating `Perpetual Care' or `Endowment Care' or
`No Perpetual Care' or `No Endowment Care', depending upon which
method of operation the cemetery is using. Those cemeteries which
furnish perpetual care to some portions and no perpetual care to other
portions shall display these signs on the appropriate sections of the
cemetery to which the sign applies. Portions designated `Perpetual Care'
cannot be changed to `No Perpetual Care' once the designation is
made.
Section 39-55-245. Any cemetery company which offers free burial
rights to any person or group of persons must, at the time of the offer,
clearly state all conditions upon which the offer is made. Cemeteries must
be maintained to present a cared for appearance including, but not limited
to, shrubs and trees pruned and trimmed, flower beds weeded, drives
maintained, and lawns mowed when needed equivalent to once a week
during the grass growing season with ample rainfall.
Section 39-55-255. Cemetery companies may provide by their bylaws,
regulations, contracts, or deeds the designation of parts of cemeteries for
the specific use of persons whose religious code requires isolation.
Section 39-55-265. Any officer, director, or person occupying a
similar status licensed to operate a cemetery company who fails to make
required contributions to the care and maintenance trust fund or any other
trust fund required to be established and maintained by this chapter and
any other person violating any other provision of this chapter or order or
regulation promulgated under the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five
thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than two years. Each
violation constitutes a separate offense.
Section 39-55-275. The board has authority to adjust license and filing
fees through regulations promulgated pursuant to the Administrative
Procedures Act and to employ examiners, clerks, and stenographers and
other employees as the administration of this chapter may require. The
board also has authority to appoint and employ investigators who shall
have, in any case in which there is a reason to believe a violation of this
chapter or of any order or regulation promulgated under the provisions of
this chapter has occurred or is about to occur, the right and power to serve
subpoenas and to swear out and execute search warrants.
Section 39-55-285. The board has the authority to make regulations
pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act and to issue orders from
time to time as the board considers necessary for the enforcement of this
chapter.
Section 39-55-295. The provisions of this chapter do not apply to
governmental cemeteries, church cemeteries, or family burial grounds,
with the exception of the provisions of Sections 39-55-235 and
39-55-265.
Section 39-55-305. Any cemetery company established between June
30, 1991, and the effective date of this chapter may continue to operate
and must be granted a license by the South Carolina Cemetery Board,
provided the trust fund requirements of this chapter have been met.
Hereafter, such cemetery companies must be operated in accordance with
the provisions of this chapter."
Termination of South Carolina Cemetery board
SECTION 2. The programs, functions, and regulations of the State
Cemetery Board must be terminated as provided in Chapter 20, Title 1, on
June 30, 1996, unless reauthorized according to law.
Time effective
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
In the Senate House _________________________________.
_______________________________________
President of the Senate
_______________________________________
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Approved the _______ day of __________________, 1992.
_______________________________________
Governor
Printer's Date -- June 14, 1992 -- S.
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