STATE OF NEW YORK
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1605--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2019
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Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, JONES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the not-for-profit corporation law and the town law, in
relation to the abandonment of cemeteries
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The not-for-profit corporation law is amended by adding a
2 new section 1506-d to read as follows:
3 § 1506-d. Cemetery abandonment notification and assistance.
4 Any cemetery corporation that shall have insufficient general operat-
5 ing funds with which to continue operations or that does not have a
6 board sufficient to carry on operations of the cemetery, shall provide
7 notice to the state cemetery board and the governing board of the muni-
8 cipality or municipalities in which the cemetery is located at least one
9 hundred and eighty days in advance of the date of expected abandonment
10 to a municipality. Upon notification by the cemetery corporation or as
11 a result of a review of the financial and corporate status of a cemetery
12 corporation, the state cemetery board shall notify the governing board
13 of the municipality where such cemetery corporation is located at least
14 one hundred and twenty days in advance of the date of expected abandon-
15 ment. Prior to abandonment, the state cemetery board shall work with the
16 cemetery corporation and the governing board or boards of the munici-
17 pality or municipalities in which the cemetery corporation is located to
18 assist in reconstituting the board of the cemetery corporation; or to
19 arrange to provide the cemetery corporation with temporary assistance in
20 operating the cemetery; or to locate another cemetery corporation to
21 take over the cemetery corporation seeking abandonment or any other
22 lawful measure that might prevent abandonment. In the event the ceme-
23 tery corporation board is not reconstituted or if the condition of such
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07019-02-9
A. 1605--A 2
1 abandoned cemetery prevents effective municipal takeover within ninety
2 days of abandonment, the state cemetery board shall, with the consent of
3 the governing board of the municipality, request the attorney general
4 seek court appointment of a temporary receiver to manage cemetery oper-
5 ations until such time that the cemetery is in a condition to be main-
6 tained or operated by the municipality. Notwithstanding any other
7 provision of law, such funds and expense for the temporary receiver and
8 repairs of the cemetery shall be a state expense allocated and approved
9 as outlined in paragraph (h) of section fifteen hundred seven of this
10 chapter.
11 § 2. Subparagraph 4 of paragraph (h) of section 1507 of the not-for-
12 profit corporation law, as amended by chapter 363 of the laws of 2009,
13 is amended to read as follows:
14 (4) Authorization for payments by the fund for maintenance of an aban-
15 doned cemetery shall be made by the secretary of state only upon
16 approval by the cemetery board of an application by a municipality or
17 other solvent not-for-profit cemetery corporation for fair and reason-
18 able expenses required to be made by the municipality or other solvent
19 not-for-profit cemetery corporation for maintenance of an abandoned
20 cemetery; provided, however, that the cemetery board shall not approve
21 any such application unless the municipality or other solvent not-for-
22 profit cemetery corporation acknowledges that the responsibility for
23 restoration and future care, preservation, and maintenance of such ceme-
24 tery has been assumed by the municipality or other solvent not-for-pro-
25 fit cemetery corporation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
26 municipality or other solvent not-for-profit cemetery corporation having
27 assumed management or responsibility for an abandoned cemetery under the
28 provisions of this section after January first, two thousand fifteen
29 shall be permitted to file an additional application for funds under
30 this section, twenty-five years following the date of the initial appli-
31 cation for the repair and maintenance of any structures on the cemetery
32 grounds only where such structures were constructed preceding the date
33 of abandonment of the cemetery corporation. For the purposes of this
34 paragraph, such cemetery shall always be deemed an abandoned cemetery.
35 § 3. Section 291 of the town law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
36 sion 5 to read as follows:
37 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no town shall be liable
38 for any damages or injuries sustained by any person or property associ-
39 ated with a cemetery abandoned to the town for any cause of action that
40 occurred prior to the takeover of said cemetery by the town and in addi-
41 tion, no cause of action for such damages shall be maintained and adju-
42 dicated by any court in this state which would otherwise have jurisdic-
43 tion to adjudicate such claim.
44 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
