Bill Text: MA H2171 | 2009-2010 | 186th General Court | Introduced
Bill Title: The payment of funeral expenses of indigent persons
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-01 - Bill reported favorably by committee and referred to the House Committee On Ways and Means [H2171 Detail]
Download: Massachusetts-2009-H2171-Introduced.html
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Benjamin Swan
_______________
To the
Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to realistic allowable costs for funerals of indigents.
_______________
PETITION OF:
|
Name: |
District/Address: |
|
Benjamin Swan |
11th Hampden |
|
Gloria L. Fox |
7th Suffolk |
|
Byron Rushing |
9th Suffolk |
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2260 OF 2007-2008.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
_______________
An Act
relative to realistic allowable costs for funerals of indigents.
Be it
enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled,
and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 117A of the General Laws, as
appearing in Section 4 of Chapter 225 of the Acts of 1991, is hereby amended by
striking out section 10, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the
following section:—
Section 10.
In case of the decease of a poor and indigent person, the commonwealth shall
pay for the expense of the funeral and burial of such person a sum not
exceeding two thousand dollars; provided, however, that the total expense of
the funeral does not exceed three thousand dollars; provided, further, that the
cost of such funeral and burial shall include payment for a suitable grave
marker, bearing the decedent’s name and dates of birth and death, if known; and
provided, further, that any payment made by the commonwealth shall be reduced
by whatever resources may exist in the estate of said person. The funeral
director engaged in conducting the funeral and burial of said deceased person
shall perform the services and furnish the materials in connection therewith as
follows:— removal of the body; procuring of death certificate and burial
permit; embalming and dressing of body; furnishing suitable burial garment;
furnishing suitable casket, bearing metal plate with name of deceased engraved
thereon; furnishing outer case of pine wood; furnishing hearse for transporting
body of deceased to cemetery; furnishing conveyance for transporting to such
cemetery the immediate family of the deceased; procuring of a clergyman, of the
religion that the deceased professed, to officiate at the funeral; procuring a
burial place for the body of the deceased; opening the grave obtaining the use
of internment devices and notwithstanding any general or special law to the
contrary, procurement and placement of the aforementioned grave marker.
