Senate committee adopts amendment and advances bill setting state standards for green burials

Senate File 2,819, a bill that would create statewide basic standards for "green" or natural burials, advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection after the committee adopted an author’s amendment addressing stakeholder concerns.

The committee adopted an A3 amendment that removed a redundant section, retained a 20% funding withholding in one section instead of a proposed 25% increase, clarified language to address scattering of cremated remains, and removed an inflexible plot-size requirement while keeping a limit of 300 bodies per acre over a 100-year period. "This amendment addresses their concerns," said Senator Reic, the bill sponsor, who also said he worked with the Minnesota Department of Health and stakeholder groups to revise the proposal.

The bill includes a minimum burial depth of 3½ feet, setback distances from water and property lines, and the bodies-per-acre limit that the sponsor said came from an MDH study requested during a 2023 moratorium on new green cemeteries in Carlton County and elsewhere. The study and subsequent drafting work were cited repeatedly in testimony and discussion. "The health study clarifies setbacks from water bodies and the depth of burial," Mark Thell, a former county commissioner who testified in favor, told the committee, adding that the 3½-foot figure should allay concerns about animals disturbing graves or exposing remains.

Testimony at the hearing included people representing cemetery operators, faith communities and proponents of natural burial. Eric Braun, a pastor who said a proposed green cemetery had been planned near his neighborhood, said the MDH recommendations incorporated into the bill ‘‘seem to me to make a great deal of sense.’’ Carolyn Lane, a former senator and longtime advocate for home and green funerals, asked the committee to add precise statutory definitions for different types of cremation remains; Senator Reic said he would work with stakeholders on clarifying language for future committee stops.

The Minnesota Association of Cemeteries told the committee it appreciated recent meetings with the sponsor and that many concerns had been addressed in the A3 amendment. Dominic Pierre, secretary-treasurer of the association, said the group planned ongoing collaboration with the sponsor.

Committee members asked about the bill’s effect on cemeteries that already offer natural-burial practices. Counsel said the bill has no explicit effective date in the text presented, so the default effective date would be Aug. 1, 2025; the Department of Commerce staff advised that compliance would be required for burials or scattering of remains occurring after the effective date and would not be retroactive to past burials. Senator Wicklund asked whether existing cemeteries offering similar practices would have to change; the sponsor said the intent is not to stop natural burials but to set “common-sense” minimum requirements and that he had removed a plot-size requirement after conversations with cemetery representatives.

The committee voted to recommend the bill to pass as amended and be referred to the Committee on State and Local Government. The motion was called by Senator Green; one senator on the record registered opposition to the motion. The A3 amendment had been adopted earlier in the hearing.

Supporters said the bill provides clarity for county planning and zoning officials and offers protections for adjacent property owners and water resources; opponents and some commenters urged limiting regulatory burdens on cemeteries, careful definition of terms (including "cremated remains" vs. "hydrolyzed remains") and protections for small or older cemetery sites.

The committee did not finalize definitions for scattering of cremated remains and the sponsor pledged further drafting with faith communities and tribal representatives, whom he said he had attempted to contact.

Votes at the committee: the A3 author’s amendment was adopted and the committee recommended Senate File 2,819 as amended to pass and refer to the Committee on State and Local Government.