Bill Text: NY A06836 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the sale of monuments; provides no religious corporation owning, managing or controlling a cemetery shall, directly or indirectly, engage in the sale of monuments, or authorize or permit any employee or trustee or director thereof to advertise or make known his or her relationship to such religious corporation or cemetery if such person is engaged in the sale of monuments outside of his or her employment by or affiliation with the religious corporation or the cemetery.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A06836 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A06836-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6836

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     April 12, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN  ACT to amend the religious corporations law, in relation to the sale
          of monuments

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The fourth undesignated paragraph and the closing paragraph
     2  of  section 7 of the religious corporations law, the fourth undesignated
     3  paragraph as added by chapter 560 of the laws of 1998  and  the  closing
     4  paragraph  as amended by chapter 296 of the laws of 2018, are amended to
     5  read as follows:
     6    No religious corporation owning, managing or  controlling  a  cemetery
     7  shall, directly or indirectly:
     8    (a)  sell,  or  have, enter into or perform a lease of any of its real
     9  property dedicated to cemetery purposes or adjacent thereto to a funeral
    10  entity, or use any of its property for locating a funeral entity;
    11    (b) commingle its funds with a funeral entity;
    12    (c) direct or carry on its cemetery related business or affairs with a
    13  funeral entity;
    14    (d) authorize control of its cemetery related business or affairs by a
    15  funeral entity;
    16    (e) engage in any sale or cross-marketing of goods or services with  a
    17  funeral entity;
    18    (f)  have,  enter into or perform a management or service contract for
    19  cemetery operations with a funeral entity; [or]
    20    (g) have, enter into or perform a management contract with any  entity
    21  other than a not-for-profit cemetery or religious corporation[.];
    22    (h)  engage in the sale of monuments, not including flush bronze mark-
    23  ers, nor shall such monuments be displayed for sale on the property of a
    24  religious corporation, whether such  property  is  located  on  cemetery
    25  grounds or elsewhere; or

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01307-01-1
        A. 6836                             2

     1    (i) authorize or permit any employee or trustee or director thereof to
     2  advertise or make known his or her relationship to such religious corpo-
     3  ration  or  cemetery  if such person is engaged in the sale of monuments
     4  outside of his or her employment by or affiliation  with  the  religious
     5  corporation or the cemetery.
     6    Only  the  provisions  of subparagraphs (a) [and], (b), (h) and (i) of
     7  the [previous] fourth undesignated paragraph of this section shall apply
     8  to religious corporations with thirty acres or  less  of  real  property
     9  dedicated to cemetery purposes, and only to the extent the sale or lease
    10  is  of real property dedicated to cemetery purposes, and such cemeteries
    11  shall not engage in the sale of funeral home goods or  services,  except
    12  if  such  goods and services are otherwise permitted to be sold by ceme-
    13  teries.  No  religious  corporation  shall  approve  or  authorize   the
    14  construction  of  a  mausoleum  or  columbarium on property owned by the
    15  religious corporation where such mausoleum or columbarium shall  be  the
    16  only form of interment offered for cemetery purposes unless a management
    17  contract  has  been  entered  into with an existing cemetery corporation
    18  regulated under article fifteen of the not-for-profit  corporation  law,
    19  that  will provide operational management of the mausoleum or columbari-
    20  um, and the owner of the mausoleum or columbarium has reserved interment
    21  space and secured interment services in a cemetery regulated under  this
    22  article,  in  order  to  assure  continued perpetual care of the remains
    23  contained in the mausoleum  or  columbarium  should  such  mausoleum  or
    24  columbarium become abandoned or choose to cease operations.
    25    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
    26  have become a law.