Committee advances bill letting counties clean neglected public cemeteries and bill municipalities

The chair summarized Senate Bill 2256 by saying the bill would allow counties to address public cemeteries that have fallen into disrepair and to bill municipalities for the cleanup cost. "In our respective counties, if our cemeteries have fallen into a state of disrepair, our counties could basically, clean those cemeteries up and then they can just basically, bill the municipalities, for the cost associated with actually cleaning up those cemeteries," the chair said.

Committee members asked whether municipalities and cemetery owners would be notified before work began and whether billing would be agreed upon in advance. One member said: "I just don't want my my city to get a bill that they're, you know, didn't want." The chair responded that counsel would be asked to review existing notice requirements and that the goal is to establish a process so neglected cemeteries would be repaired. The committee voted to report the bill; the transcript contains no text of the bill's notice provisions or the mechanism for billing and cost recovery.