Senator Richardson, author of SB 777, told the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on Friday that repeated vandalism and long-term neglect at several burial grounds in California requires speeding up a state study and policy response.

"A couple years ago, I started learning about abandoned cemeteries, and there are 2 in my district," Richardson said, describing sites with "weeds up to your hip," missing markers and opened crypts. She told the committee she will seek a report from the stakeholder work group in March, earlier than the 2027 date set by prior legislation, so the Legislature can move on remedies by next summer.

The bill matters, proponents said, because endowment funds set aside when gravesites were sold are often too small to fund perpetual care decades later. Richardson said one cemetery — Lincoln — was estimated to need roughly $6,000,000 for restoration; she also said a $1,000,000 endowment for a site can yield only about $3,000 per month in interest for maintenance, an amount she described as inadequate.

"We will receive the report in March so we can move forward with legislation ideally in the June time frame," Richardson said. She also described a potential, separate proposal to create a grant program to help bring abandoned cemeteries back to operational condition; she emphasized that the grant program is not part of the version of SB 777 before the committee but may be developed later.

Committee members asked for clarification about scope and who would ultimately be responsible for maintenance. Senator Archuleta praised Richardson's work and moved the measure. Senator Aragon thanked Richardson for shepherding the bill through many changes and noted a previously considered amendment that would have assigned responsibility to LAFCO was removed during the process.

Senator Nilo expressed concern about late-stage changes to bills, saying, "I do not like gut and amend bills at the very end of a year or end of a session," and asked whether there was sufficient time and testimony to evaluate the new approach. Richardson and other supporters said the measure preserves the original work-group structure created by Assembly Bill 3254 (2024) but accelerates the timeline because conditions at some cemeteries have worsened.

Committee discussion also addressed existing oversight. Richardson said the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and its Cemetery and Funeral Bureau hold cemetery endowment accounts and perform annual reviews, but she and other speakers noted administrative gaps — for example, records that list plots but not who occupies them, a problem if markers are lost or stolen.

After discussion, the committee voted to concur in the assembly amendments and reported SB 777 to the floor. The roll call recorded eight aye votes and no no votes; the committee secretary announced the result as "8 to 0." Senator Archuleta made the motion to concur; a formal second was not recorded in the public remarks.

Richardson said she will continue stakeholder outreach and return with more detailed legislation in the next session. Supporters and committee members said the accelerated report and a clearer policy framework are intended to identify who would be responsible for maintenance, how funds might be supplemented, and whether a grant program or revised fee structure will be needed to prevent future abandonments.

Background: AB 3254 (2024) created a work group to recommend how to address abandoned cemeteries and set a reporting date of Jan. 1, 2027. SB 777, as discussed in committee, seeks to accelerate that work-group timeline and to assemble stakeholders — including counties, cities, cemetery operators and DCA — to produce earlier recommendations. The committee did not adopt a grant fund or specify a permanent responsible agency in the version it advanced.