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Burial Services 2015 Legislative Update
The Tennessee General Assembly has recently made changes to statutes which may impact you as a holder of a license with the Division of Regulatory Boards. These new changes set out in the following Public Chapter specifically amend the Tennessee Code Annotated as follows:
Public Chapter 288 (SB1235/HB1307) amends multiple parts of the Cemetery Act (the "Act"):
• It amends the definition of lawn crypts;
• It clarifies that cemeteries do not have to pay consumer protection fees for pre-need contracts that were written and then cancelled before the next renewal;
• It adds language to include those who lease or rent lots, grave spaces, crypts, niches, and burial rights in the Act, not just those who sell such interests;
• It increases the minimum payment into the Improvement Care Trust Fund for land from fifty cents ($.50) to one dollar ($1.00) per square foot;
• It allows a cemetery to take a credit in the Improvement Care Trust Fund for cancelled contracts if the credit is applied within twelve (12) months of the cancellation;
• It changes the amount of time cemeteries must wait to cancel contracts from twelve (12) consecutive months of nonpayment to ninety (90) days of nonpayment; and
• It gives guidelines for the timing of audit reports issued by Burial Services.
All these changes will take effect on January 1, 2016. A copy of the new law is available for review on the website of the Tennessee Secretary of State here: http://www.tn.gov/sos/acts/109/pub/pc0288.pdf.
If you have any questions or concerns about these new laws, please contact us by email at reg.boards@tn.gov.
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