Committee hears bill to allow human and pet remains in the same interment parks

Representative Richard West introduced House Bill 632 in a public hearing before the Missouri House Committee on General Laws to allow human and pet remains to be buried together in the same plot or in a single, dedicated parcel within an interment park and to apply endowed-care consumer protections to those parks.

The bill would amend state law that currently defines cemetery property as dedicated exclusively to human remains so that a licensed ‘‘human and pet’’ interment park could be established. West told the committee the proposal is intended to clean up statutory language and allow cemeteries to offer an option that some families are already seeking.

David Biggs, counsel for Associated Cemeteries of Missouri, testified in support and urged the committee to extend the existing endowed-care rules to parks that inter pets with humans. Biggs told the committee that “under the endowed care law, a cemetery has always been defined as ground dedicated exclusively to the interment of human remains,” and that the growth of pet cemeteries has created a mismatch between practice and statute. He said the bill’s main change is “to add a definition for a human and pet cemetery and an executing provision” so parks promising endowed care must meet the same licensing and trustee requirements as traditional cemeteries. Biggs said those consumer-protection rules helped preserve perpetual-care funds in 2009.

Committee members asked practical questions about implementation. Representative Smith asked whether the bill permits burial in the “same plot” and whether interments would need to occur at the same time; West said the intent is to allow burial in the same plot and that cemetery professionals would specify timing and procedures. Representative Justice asked whether existing cemeteries could opt in; Biggs said existing cemeteries could create a separate parcel dedicated for human-and-pet interments so purchasers understand the mixed use.

State Public Advocate Arnie C. Acdinoff also testified in support, describing the emotional bond many people have with pets and suggesting operational details such as methods for preserving a pet until a human interment occurs.

No formal committee action or vote was recorded during the public hearing; committee members closed the record and moved to the next bill on the agenda.

The public hearing record includes questions from multiple committee members about how the endowed-care trust requirement would apply, whether licensing or trustee thresholds would change, and what consumer disclosures would be required at point of sale.