Current Status Bill Number:4095 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19950412 Primary Sponsor:Tripp All Sponsors:Tripp Drafted Document Number:bbm\10076jm.95 Companion Bill Number:3093 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee 27 H3M Subject:Cemetery Board
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved
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House 19950412 Introduced, read first time, 27 H3M
referred to Committee
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TO AMEND CHAPTER 55, TITLE 39, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA CEMETERY ACT OF 1984, SO AS TO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, ESTABLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA CEMETERY BOARD, PROVIDE FOR ITS POWERS AND DUTIES, AND REVISE THE PROVISIONS OF THE CHAPTER REGARDING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR FUNERAL VAULTS, CEMETERIES, AND LICENSES; AND TO TERMINATE THE PROGRAMS, FUNCTIONS, AND REGULATIONS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA CEMETERY BOARD JUNE 30, 2000.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 55, Title 39 of the 1976 Code is amended by striking the chapter and inserting:
Section 39-55-15. The provisions of this chapter are known and may be cited as the `South Carolina Cemetery Act'.
Section 39-55-25. It is found to be necessary in the public interest that cemeteries, burial grounds, and any agreement or contract which has for a purpose the furnishing or delivering of any person, property, or merchandise of any nature in connection with the final disposition of a dead human body, must be subject to sufficient regulation by the State to ensure that sound business practices are followed by all entities subject to the provisions of this chapter.
Section 39-55-35. As used in this chapter, unless otherwise stated or unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) `Board' means the South Carolina Cemetery Board, including its predecessor under South Carolina law.
(2) `Cemetery' means a place used, dedicated, or designated for cemetery purposes including any one or combination of:
(a) perpetual care cemeteries;
(b) burial parks for earth interment;
(c) mausoleums;
(d) columbariums.
(3) `Cemetery company' means any legal entity that owns or controls cemetery lands or property and conducts the business of a cemetery, including all cemeteries owned and operated by cemetery sales organizations or cemetery management organizations or any other legal entity.
(4) `Columbarium' means a structure or building substantially exposed aboveground intended to be used for the interment of the cremated remains of a deceased person.
(5) `Grave space' means a space of ground in a cemetery intended to be used for the interment in the ground of the remains of a deceased person.
(6) `Human remains' or `remains' means the body of a deceased person and includes the body in any stage of decomposition.
(7) `Mausoleum' means a structure or building substantially exposed aboveground, intended to be used for the entombment of the remains of a deceased person.
(8) `Perpetual care' means the maintenance and the reasonable administration of the cemetery grounds and buildings in keeping with a properly maintained cemetery. In the event that a cemetery offers perpetual care for some designated sections of its property but does not offer perpetual care to other designated sections, the cemetery must be considered a perpetual care cemetery for the purposes of this chapter.
(9) `Person' means an individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, or association.
(10) `Vault' means a crypt or underground receptacle which is used for interment in the ground and is designed to encase, seal, and protect caskets or similar burial devices. For the purposes of this chapter a vault is a preneed item until delivery to the purchaser at the selling cemetery.
(11) `Memorial' means a bronze marker set approximately level with the turf for the purpose of identification, or interchanged to mean upright markers in garden sections which are plotted and specified for the use of upright markers. The term `marker' is herein interchanged with the term `memorial'.
(12) `Merchandise' means items used in connection with grave space, niches, mausoleum crypts, granite, memorials, vaults, caskets, and cremation urns; provided, however, merchandise shall expressly exclude burial clothing, professional services, facilities used for preparation, viewing, or services, and automotive equipment and transportation. Items expressly excluded under the definition of merchandise in this provision shall be governed by Chapter 7 of Title 32.
(13) `Trust institution' means any state or national bank, state or federal savings and loan association, or trust company authorized to act in a fiduciary capacity in this State.
Section 39-55-45. For the purposes of administering the provisions of this chapter, there is established a South Carolina Cemetery Board with the power and duty to promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
Section 39-55-55. The board consists of seven members. One appointed member must be a public member who has no financial interest in and is not involved in the management of a cemetery or funeral related business, one must be a staff member of the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, four members must be owners or managers of cemeteries in this State who shall be selected from nominees submitted by the South Carolina Cemetery Association, and one member must be a monument dealer in this State who shall be selected from nominees submitted by the Monument Builders of the Carolinas. Of the seven members, three of the initial board must be appointed for a term of two years, two for a term of three years, and two for a term of four years. At the end of their respective terms, successors must be selected in the same manner and appointed for terms of four years and until their successors are appointed and qualify. Nominations for appointment may be received by the Governor from an individual, a group, or an association in this State. An appointment to fill a vacancy on the board is for the balance of the unexpired term in the manner of the original appointment.
Section 39-55-65. The board shall elect annually a chairman, vice-chairman, and a secretary-treasurer. Notice of all regular meetings may be advertised in three newspapers having general circulation in the State ten or more days in advance of the meetings. Each member of the board shall receive the usual mileage, per diem, and subsistence as provided by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions. All expenses of the board must be paid from fees received by the board.
Section 39-55-75. The board must meet at least semiannually and may hold special meetings at any time and place within the State at the call of the chairman or upon written request of at least four members.
Section 39-55-85. The board shall prepare an annual budget and shall collect the sums of money required for the budget from yearly fees and any other sources provided for in this chapter. On or before July first of each year, each licensed cemetery shall pay a license fee of at least one hundred dollars.
Section 39-55-95. (A) No legal entity may engage in the business of operating a cemetery company, except as authorized by this chapter, without first obtaining a license from the board.
(B) A legal entity wishing to establish a cemetery shall file a written application for authority to do so with the board on forms prescribed and provided by it.
(C) Upon receipt of the application and a nonrefundable filing fee of at least four hundred dollars the board shall cause an investigation to be made to establish the following criteria for approval of the application:
(1) creation of a legal entity to conduct a cemetery business and the proposed financial structure;
(2) establishment and maintenance of an irrevocable care and maintenance trust fund agreement with a trust institution doing business in this State, with an initial deposit of not less than fifteen thousand dollars and a bank cashier's or certified check attached for the amount and payable to the trustee with the trust executed by the applicant and accepted by the trustee, conditioned only upon the approval of the application;
(3) presentation of a plat of the land to be used for a cemetery showing the county or municipality and the names of roads and access streets or ways;
(4) designation by the legal entity, wishing to establish a cemetery, of a general manager who must be a person having had not less than one year's experience in the cemetery business;
(5) presentation of development plans sufficient to ensure the community that the cemetery will provide adequate cemetery services and that the property is suitable for use as a cemetery.
(D) The board, after receipt of the investigating report and within ninety days after receipt of the application, shall grant or refuse to grant the authority to organize a cemetery.
(E) If the board intends to deny an application, it shall give written notice to the applicant of its intention to deny. The notice must state a time and place for a hearing before the board and a summary statement of the reasons for the proposed denial. The notice of intent must be mailed by certified mail to the applicant at the address stated in the application at least fifteen days before the scheduled hearing date. An appeal from the board's decision is to be made in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act.
(F) If the board intends to grant the authority it shall give written notice that the authority to organize a cemetery has been granted and that a license to operate will be issued upon the completion of the following:
(1) establishment of the irrevocable care and maintenance trust fund and receipt by the board of a certificate from the trust institution certifying receipt of the initial deposit required under this chapter;
(2) development, ready for burial, of not less than two acres, certified by inspection of the board or its representative;
(3) presentation of a description, by metes and bounds, of the acreage tract of the proposed cemetery, with evidence, by title insurance policy or certificate or certification by an attorney at law, that the applicant is the owner in fee simple of the tract of land, which must contain not less than thirty acres. In counties with a population of less than thirty-five thousand inhabitants according to the latest official United States census, the tract needs to be only fifteen acres;
(4) submission to the board for its approval a copy of regulations defined in this chapter.
Section 39-55-100. (A) Where the excavation can be accomplished without drilling or the use of equipment other than a shovel or other `hand tools', funeral vaults must be at least ten inches below the earth's surface. As used in this section, `funeral vaults' means caskets, grave liners, or other outer burial containers. It does not include markers, monuments, or crypts constructed in a mausoleum or columbarium.
(B) This section does not apply to cemeteries located in the coastal/lowland areas which are subject to tidal or surface flooding or have a high-level water table, except that vaults may be placed level with the ground in coastal/lowland cemeteries where the water table is at least two feet below ground level and which cemeteries are not subject to tidal or surface water flooding.
(C) Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days.
Section 39-55-105. In any case where a person proposes to purchase or acquire control of an existing cemetery either by purchasing the outstanding capital stock of any cemetery company or the interest of the owner and, thereby to change the control of the cemetery company, the person must make application on a form prescribed and provided by the board for a license change. The application shall contain the name and address of the proposed new owner. The application for a license change must be accompanied by an initial filing fee of one hundred dollars to cover an investigation, if required.
Section 39-55-115. (A) In addition to other powers and duties conferred by this chapter upon the board, it also has the following:
(1) examine the licensee's records and, if the board considers it advisable, assess applicable fees provided for in this chapter or by regulation;
(2) to cause an investigation, upon its own initiative or upon a verified complaint in writing, the actions of a person engaged in the business or acting in the capacity of a licensee under this chapter. Based upon the findings of an investigation, a license may be revoked or suspended by the board for not more than two years or until compliance with a lawful order imposed in the final order of suspension, or both, if the licensee in performing or attempting to perform acts specified in this chapter:
(a) fails to pay the required fees;
(b) fails to make required reports;
(c) fails to remit to the care and maintenance trust fund or merchandise trust fund the required amounts;
(d) knowingly makes a false statement intended to influence or persuade;
(e) knowingly and continually makes flagrant misrepresentations or knowingly condones false promises by its cemetery agents or salesmen;
(f) wilfully violates this chapter or regulations promulgated by the board; or
(g) acts in a fraudulent manner, whether of the same or a different character than specified in this section.
(B) Whenever the board has reason to believe that any person to whom a license has been issued has become unfit to practice as a licensed operator of a cemetery or has violated any of the provisions of this chapter or regulation of the board or, whenever a written complaint charging the holder of a license with the violation of any provision of this chapter is filed with the board, the board shall cause an investigation to be conducted within thirty days. If after investigation it appears that probable cause exists for a hearing, a time and place must be set by the board for a hearing to determine whether or not the license must be suspended or revoked. No action to suspend, revoke, or cancel any license may be taken by the board until the licensee has been furnished with a statement of the charges against him and by whom he is charged and the names and addresses of all witnesses against him and a notice of the time and place of the hearing on the charges at least thirty days prior to the date of the hearing. The notice and statement of charges must be mailed to the accused at his last known place of residence. The accused may appear and show cause why his license should not be suspended or revoked, or other disciplinary action taken. The accused has the right to be confronted with and to cross-examine the witnesses against him and he has the right to counsel. A stenographic record of each proceeding to revoke, suspend, or otherwise restrict a license must be made at the expense of the board, and a transcript of the record must be kept in its files.
If the board is satisfied that the licensee is guilty of any offense charged in the formal accusation provided for in this chapter, it shall revoke, suspend, reprimand, or otherwise take any other reasonable action short of revocation or suspension, such as requiring the licensee to undertake additional professional training subject to the direction and supervision of the board. The board may also impose restraint upon the licensee as circumstances warrant until the licensee demonstrates to the board adequate professional competence. In all cases where disciplinary action is taken by the board, written notice of the action must then be mailed by the secretary of the board to the accused at his last known address, as provided to the board.
Any final order of the board finding that a licensee is guilty of any offense charged in a formal accusation becomes public knowledge except for a final order dismissing the accusation or determining that a private reprimand is in order. All final orders which are made public must be mailed to local and state professional associations, all firms and facilities with which the respondent is associated, states where the person has a license known to the board, and to any other source that the board wishes to furnish this information.
Any decision by the board to revoke, suspend, or otherwise restrict the license must be by majority vote and is subject to review by an Administrative Law Judge as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 23 of Title 1.
(C) All investigations and proceedings undertaken under the provisions of this chapter must be confidential. Every communication, whether oral or written, made by or on behalf of any complainant to the board or its agent or any hearing panel or member of the panel, pursuant to this chapter, whether by way of complaint or testimony, is privileged. No action or proceeding, civil or criminal, shall lie against any person by whom or on whose behalf the communication has been made, except upon proof that the communication was made with malice. No part of this chapter may be construed as prohibiting the respondent or his legal counsel from exercising the respondent's constitutional right or due process under the law, nor to prohibit the respondent from normal access to the charges and evidence filed against him as a part of due process under the law.
No member of the board, or its committees, special examiners, agents and employees may be held liable for acts performed in the course of official duties, except where actual malice is shown. For the purpose of any investigation or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter, the board or any person designated by it may administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, take evidence, and require the production of any documents or records which the board considers relevant to the inquiry. In the case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any person an Administrative Law Judge as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 23 of Title 1 upon application of the board, may issue an order requiring the person to appear before the board or the person designated by it and produce documentary evidence and to give other evidence concerning the matter under inquiry.
Whenever the board has reason to believe that any person is violating or intends to violate any provision of this chapter, it may, in addition to all other remedies, order the person to immediately desist and refrain from the conduct. The board may apply to an Administrative Law Judge as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 23 of Title 1 for an injunction restraining the person from the conduct. An Administrative Law Judge as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 23 of Title 1 may issue a temporary injunction ex parte and upon notice and full hearing may issue any other order in the matter it considers proper. No bond may be required of the board by an Administrative Law Judge as provided under Article 5 of Chapter 23 of Title 1 as a condition to the issuance of any injunction or order contemplated by the provisions of this section.
A licensee or funeral home found to be in violation of a provision of this chapter or failing, omitting, or neglecting to obey, observe, or comply with a lawful order of the board is subject to a penalty of not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars for each offense. Jurisdiction of actions to recover penalties must be brought in the name of the State in magistrate's court.
(D) All investigations shall be conducted by the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation who shall report its findings to the board. The Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, pursuant to Section 40-73-15 shall employ employees as may be necessary to carry out its investigative responsibilities.
(E) The Administrative Procedures Act applies to proceedings under this chapter for the revocation or suspension of licenses.
Section 39-55-125. (A) A record must be kept of every lot owner and every burial in the cemetery showing the date of purchase, date of burial, name of the person buried and of the lot owner, and space in which the burial was made. Sales, trust funds, accounting records, and other records of the licensee must be available at the licensee's principal place of business at reasonable times for examination by the chairman or other authorized representative of the board. In addition, the owner of a perpetual care cemetery shall have the records of the perpetual care cemetery examined annually by a licensed public accountant and shall submit a copy of the report to the board.
(B) A record must be kept of each written complaint received, action taken, and disposition of complaint. These records must be available for examination by the chairman or other authorized representative of the board.
(C)(1)(a) The owner of a cemetery shall adopt and enforce regulations for the use, care, control, management, restriction, and protection of the cemetery and its parts and subdivisions, the use of property within a cemetery, the introduction and care of plants or shrubs within the grounds, the conduct of persons and prevention of improper assemblages, and other purposes considered necessary by the owner of the cemetery for the proper conduct of the business of the cemetery and the protection of the premises and the principles on which the cemetery was organized. The owner may amend or abolish the regulations pursuant to item (4).
(b) The regulations must be printed or typewritten plainly, posted conspicuously, and maintained subject to inspection at the usual place for transacting the regular business of the cemetery. However, no cemetery licensed under this chapter may adopt a regulation in conflict with this chapter or in derogation of the contract rights of lot owners.
(2)(a) The owner of a cemetery shall establish reasonable regulations regarding the type material, design, composition, finish, specifications, and installation of merchandise to be used in the cemetery. However, no regulation may be adopted which:
(i) requires the owner or purchaser of a lot to purchase a monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument or marker from the cemetery company;
(ii) restricts the right of the owner or purchaser of a lot to purchase a monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument from the vendor of his choice;
(iii) charges the owner or purchaser of a lot a fee for purchasing a monument or marker or the actual installation of a monument from a vendor or charges a vendor a fee for delivering or installing the monument;
(iv) discriminates against an owner or a purchaser of a lot who has purchased a monument or services related to installation of a monument from a vendor.
(b) Subitem (a) does not prohibit the cemetery from charging the owner or purchaser of a lot a reasonable fee for services actually performed by the cemetery relating to the installation, care, and maintenance of a monument or marker, including, but not limited to, the survey, recording, and supervision of the monument or marker, whether or not it is purchased from a cemetery or an outside vendor.
(c) These regulations must be posted conspicuously and maintained, subject to inspection, at the usual place for transacting the regular business of the cemetery. No cemetery owner may prevent the use of merchandise purchased by a lot owner or his representative, agent, heirs, or assigns from any source if the merchandise meets cemetery regulations.
(3) When a cemetery lot is sold the cemetery shall disclose on the sales contract cemetery services for which there may be a later charge. When a monument, marker, or memorial is sold by a cemetery company, the cemetery shall provide on the sales contract an itemized statement of the fees charged for installation, care, and maintenance of it. Fees charged for installation, care, and maintenance of a monument, marker, or memorial must be shown on the statement as charges separate from its price, and the statement must disclose the amount of fees to be placed in trust by the cemetery company. The board shall promulgate regulations to provide a form for the disclosure of fees and services.
(4) Regulations established, amended, or abolished by a cemetery pursuant to this subsection must be submitted to the board for its approval.
Section 39-55-135. No cemetery company is permitted to establish a perpetual care cemetery or to operate an already-established perpetual care cemetery without providing for the future care and maintenance of the cemetery, for which a trust fund must be established to be known as `the care and maintenance trust fund of (name of licensee)'. If any perpetual care cemetery company refuses or otherwise fails to provide or maintain an adequate care and maintenance trust fund in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the board, after reasonable notice, must proceed to enforce compliance. The trust fund agreement shall contain the name, location, and address of both the licensee and the trustee, showing the date of the trust agreement and the deposit in the trust of the required funds. No person may transfer the corpus of the care and maintenance trust fund without first obtaining written consent from the board.
Section 39-55-145. At the time of making a sale or receiving the initial deposit on the sale of grave space, niche, or mausoleum crypt, the cemetery company shall deliver to the person to whom the sale is made, or who makes the deposit, an instrument in writing which shall specifically state that the net income of the care and maintenance trust fund must be used solely for the care and maintenance of the cemetery, for reasonable costs of administering the care and maintenance and for reasonable costs of administering the trust fund. This information may be included in the sales contract.
Section 39-55-155. No cemetery may cause or permit advertising of a perpetual care fund in connection with the sale or offer for sale of its property unless the amount deposited in the care and maintenance trust fund is equal to not less than twenty dollars or a minimum of ten percent of the sale price, whichever is greater, per grave space and niche and fifty dollars per mausoleum crypt sold or five percent of the sales price, whichever is greater. Also, for any memorial or grave marker for installation in a cemetery wherein perpetual care is promised or guaranteed, the cemetery shall transmit to the care and maintenance trust fund an amount equal to a minimum of eight cents per square inch of the memorial's or the marker's base. All deposits must be made within sixty days upon receipt of final payment.
Section 39-55-165. Within ninety days after the end of the calendar or fiscal year of the cemetery company, the trustee shall furnish adequate financial reports with respect to the care and maintenance trust fund on forms prescribed and provided by the board. The board may require the trustee to make any additional financial reports the board considers advisable.
Section 39-55-175. The care and maintenance trust fund must be invested and reinvested by the trustee in the same manner as provided by law for the investment of other trust funds. The fees and other expenses of the trust fund must be paid by the trustee from the net income of the trust fund and may not be paid from the corpus. To the extent that the net income is not sufficient to pay the fees and other expenses, they must be paid by the cemetery company.
Section 39-55-185. (A) A person receiving funds from the sale of merchandise for use in a cemetery in connection with the burial or commemoration of a deceased human being when the use of the merchandise is not requested or required immediately shall deposit the funds in a merchandise trust fund administered by a trust institution.
The cemetery company shall maintain a record of each deposit into the account, identify the name of the purchaser, the amount of the actual cost to the seller, and the amount of money to be deposited, and maintain a copy of the contract for the merchandise. This section does not prohibit the trustee from commingling the deposits in a trust fund of this kind to manage and invest the funds.
(B) When a memorial, a mausoleum crypt, or other merchandise is sold in advance of need and not installed until a later date, one hundred percent of the actual cost to the seller at the time of deposit must be placed in a trust institution within sixty days after completion of the contract with interest to accrue and must not be withdrawn without the consent of the purchaser until the time of delivery or construction.
(C)(1) The funds must be held in a merchandise trust fund as to principal and income earned and must remain intact, except that the cost of the operation of the trust may be deducted from the income until delivery of the merchandise is made by the cemetery company or other entity. Upon delivery of the merchandise, the cemetery company or other entity shall certify these facts to the trustee. Upon this certification, the amount of money on deposit to the credit of that particular contract, including principal and income, must be paid to the cemetery company or other entity. The trustee may rely upon certifications of this kind and is not liable for this reliance.
(2) If a cemetery company or other entity which has entered into a contract for the sale of merchandise cannot or does not provide within a reasonable time the merchandise that has been paid for fully and called for by the contract after request in writing to do so, the purchaser or his heirs, assigns, or authorized representative may receive the amount paid on the contract and income earned by the merchandise trust fund for that particular item. Reasonable time excludes riots, strikes, acts of war, or delays beyond the control of the cemetery company or other entity.
(D) After payment in full and before delivery of merchandise, a purchaser may make written demand for a refund of the amount deposited in the merchandise trust fund to the credit of the purchaser, and, within thirty days of receipt of the written demand, the trustee shall refund to the purchaser the amount on deposit to his credit, less reasonable commission fees and administrative costs, with interest, dividends, increases, or accretions earned on the fund. Upon the refund, the cemetery company is relieved from further liability for this merchandise.
(E) The trustee, annually and within ninety days after the end of the calendar year, shall file a financial report, signed by a licensed accountant, of the merchandise trust fund with the board on forms provided by the board setting forth the principal, investments, and payments made and the income earned and disbursed. The board may require the trustee to make additional financial reports the board considers advisable.
(F) The board may cause the examination of the business of a cemetery company or other entity writing contracts for the sale of the property or services described in this section. The written report of the examination must be filed in the office of the board. A person or an entity being examined shall produce the records of the company needed for the examination.
(G) A provision of a contract for the sale of merchandise described in this section which provides that the purchaser or beneficiary may waive this section is void.
(H) Cemetery owners shall have a full and complete schedule of charges for services provided by the cemetery plainly printed or typewritten, posted conspicuously, and maintained subject to inspection and copying at the usual place for transacting the regular business of the cemetery.
(I) A cemetery company or other entity failing to make required contributions to a care and maintenance trust fund or to a merchandise trust fund is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished as in Section 39-55-265.
(J) If a report is not received within the required time, the board may levy and collect a penalty of twenty-five dollars a day for each day of delinquency.
Section 39-55-195. Application for renewal of licenses must be submitted on or before July first of each year in the case of an existing cemetery company. Before any sale of cemetery property may take place in the case of a new cemetery company or in the case of a change of ownership or control, as provided in Sections 39-55-105 and 39-55-115, an application for a license must be submitted and a license must have been issued.
Section 39-55-205. No license issued under this chapter is transferable or assignable and no licensee may develop or operate any cemetery authorized by this chapter under any name or any location other than that contained in the license.
Section 39-55-215. (a) Each licensee shall set aside a minimum of thirty acres of land for use as a cemetery, except as may otherwise be provided in this chapter, and may not sell, mortgage, lease, or encumber it.
(b) The fee simple title in any lands owned by the licensee and dedicated for use by the licensee as a cemetery, which lands are continuous, adjoining or adjacent to the minimum acreage described in subsection (a), may be sold, conveyed, or disposed of by the licensee for use by the new owner for purposes other than as a cemetery if no bodies have been previously interred and if any titles, interests, or burial rights which may have been sold or contracted to be sold in these lands are reconveyed to the licensee before the consummation of any conveyance.
(c) Any licensee may convey and transfer to a municipality or county its real and personal property, together with monies deposited with the trustee, if the municipality or county accepts responsibility for maintenance and prior written approval of the board is obtained.
(d) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) relating to a requirement for minimum acreage do not apply to those cemeteries licensed by the board on or before July 1, 1984, which cemeteries own or control a total of less than the minimum acreage, but these cemeteries may not dispose of any of the lands.
Section 39-55-225. (a) A cemetery company is required to start construction of that section of a mausoleum or bank of belowground crypts in which sales, contracts for sale, reservations for sales, or agreements for sales are being made within thirty-six months after the date of the first sale, or refund the money. The construction of the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts must be completed within five years after the date of the first sale. Extensions for completion, not to exceed one year, may be granted by the board for good reasons shown.
(b) After construction has begun on the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts, the cemetery company shall certify the progress and expenditures to the trustee and is entitled to withdraw all funds deposited to the trust account.
(c) If the mausoleum section or bank of belowground crypts is not completed within the time limits set out in this section, the trustee must contract for and cause the project to be completed and paid for from the trust funds deposited to the project's account. Any balance, less costs and expenses, must be paid to the cemetery company. If not enough funds have been deposited to the escrow trust fund to complete the project, the cemetery company shall be liable for any shortage.
(d) In lieu of the payments to the escrow trust fund the cemetery company may deliver to the board a performance bond in an amount and by surety companies acceptable to the board.
Section 39-55-235. All cemeteries in this State, except family burial grounds, shall display a sign at each entrance, containing letters not less than six inches in height, stating `Perpetual Care' or `Endowment Care' or `No Perpetual Care' or `No Endowment Care', depending upon which method of operation the cemetery is using. Those cemeteries which furnish perpetual care to some portions and no perpetual care to other portions shall display these signs on the appropriate sections of the cemetery to which the sign applies. Portions designated `Perpetual Care' cannot be changed to `No Perpetual Care' once the designation is made.
Section 39-55-245. Any cemetery company which offers free burial rights to any person or group of persons must, at the time of the offer, clearly state all conditions upon which the offer is made. Cemeteries must be maintained to present a cared for appearance including, but not limited to, shrubs and trees pruned and trimmed, flower beds weeded, drives maintained, and lawns mowed when needed equivalent to once a week during the grass growing season with ample rainfall.
Section 39-55-255. Cemetery companies may provide by their bylaws, regulations, contracts, or deeds the designation of parts of cemeteries for the specific use of persons whose religious code requires isolation.
Section 39-55-265. Any officer, director, or person occupying a similar status licensed to operate a cemetery company who fails to make required contributions to the care and maintenance trust fund or any other trust fund required to be established and maintained by this chapter and any other person violating any other provision of this chapter or order or regulation promulgated under the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than two years. Each violation constitutes a separate offense.
Section 39-55-275. The board has authority to adjust license and filing fees through regulations promulgated pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act and to employ examiners, clerks, and stenographers and other employees as the administration of this chapter may require. The board also has authority to appoint and employ investigators who shall have, in any case in which there is a reason to believe a violation of this chapter or of any order or regulation promulgated under the provisions of this chapter has occurred or is about to occur, the right and power to serve subpoenas and to swear out and execute search warrants.
Section 39-55-285. The board has the authority to make regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act and to issue orders from time to time as the board considers necessary for the enforcement of this chapter.
Section 39-55-295. The provisions of this chapter do not apply to governmental cemeteries, church cemeteries, or family burial grounds, with the exception of the provisions of Sections 39-55-235 and 39-55-265.
Section 39-55-305. Any cemetery company established between June 30, 1991, and the effective date of this chapter may continue to operate and must be granted a license by the South Carolina Cemetery Board, provided the trust fund requirements of this chapter have been met. Hereafter, such cemetery companies must be operated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter."
SECTION 2. The programs, functions, and regulations of the South Carolina Cemetery Board must be terminated as provided in Chapter 20, Title 1, on June 30, 2000, unless reauthorized according to law.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.