Rainier Cemetery District

GUIDELINES FOR OREGON CEMETERIES February 17, 2015 Complying with Oregon Laws & Rules

Oregon State Mortuary and Cemetery Board 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 430 Portland OR 97232-2195 971-673-1500 phone / 971-673-1501 fax www.oregon.gov/MortCem Email: mortuary.board@state.or.us

CONTENTS

Subject Page Board Mission ……………………………………………………………….... 3

History of Cemetery Certification / Licensure………………………………….... 3

Legal Authorities; Defining Cemetery Terms …………………………………. 3

Responsibilities of an Operating Cemetery ……………………………………. 6

Certification / Licensing Process…………………………………………………. 6

Determining Whether a Cemetery is an Operating Cemetery ………… 8

Requesting a Cemetery Application ………………………….………………... 8

Principals …………………………………………………………….... 8

Business Name ………………………………………………………... 9

Inspection of Cemetery Necessary for Licensure ………………………. 10

Temporary Authorization for Certification / Licensure…………………. 10

Cemetery Preneed Sales Registration Requirements ………………………….. 11

Board Registration Required for Individuals Conducting Preneed Sales……….. 12

Cemetery Contracts / Language & Preneed sales program……………………… 12

Legal Authorities Regulating Trusts …………………………………………... 12

Sexton Duties …………………………………………………………………... 13

Interment within 24 hours .………………………………………………………. 13

Permanent Records ……………………………………………………………. 14

Cemetery Rules ………………………………………………………………... 15

Endowment Care Cemeteries …………………………………………………. 15

Endowment Care Cemetery – Deeds…………………………………………….. 16

Other Types of Cemeteries and Maintenance Funds …………………………. 16

Non-Profit ……………………………………………………………. 16

Cemetery Maintenance Districts ……………………………………… 16

Municipal Cemeteries ………………………………………………… 16

Other ………………………………………………………………….. 16

Advertising ……………………………………………………………………. 16

Board Inspection Process ……………………………………………………... 17

Cemetery Inspection Checklist ……………………………………….. 18

Complaints …………………………………………………………………….. 18

What Happens if a Complaint is Filed Against a Licensee? ………….. 18

Confidentiality of Complaints ………………………………………….. 18

Investigative Process ………………………………………………….. 18

Disciplinary Actions …………………………………………………. 19

Public Records Request ………………………………………………. 19

Oregon State Website …………………………………………………………. 19

Board Contact Information ………………………………………………….. 20

MISSION

The mission of the Board is to protect public health, safety and welfare by fairly and efficiently performing its licensing, inspection and enforcement duties; by promoting professional behavior and standards in all facets of the Oregon death care industry; and, by maintaining constructive relationships with licensees, those they serve and others with an interest in the Board's activities.

HISTORY OF CEMETERY CERTIFICATION / LICENSURE In October of 1984, authorities discovered that Lincoln City funeral director Dale Omsberg grossly neglected and horribly abused a large number of human remains. During the course of investigating the Omsberg case, it was also discovered that the cemetery in which Mr. Omsberg buried a number of bodies did not have records indicating who was buried in the cemetery or when and where bodies were interred. As a consequence of that tragic incident, the 1985 Legislature radically revised and strengthened Oregon's laws pertaining to death care facilities and the final disposition of human remains. Among other things, the legislation established the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board (Board) and gave it responsibility for regulating cemeteries and crematories as well as funeral establishments. Also at that time, procedures for tracking human remains through the use of a numbered identification tag which corresponded with the number on the Oregon death certificate were statutorily implemented in Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) Chapter 432. All operating cemeteries are now required to obtain and maintain Board licensure.

LEGAL AUTHORITIES DEFINING CEMETERY TERMS & THE REQUIREMENT FOR LICENSURE

ORS Chapter 692 ORS 692.010(2) “Cemetery” means any one, or a combination of more than one, of the following, in a place used, or intended to be used, and dedicated, for cemetery purposes:

(a) A burial park, for earth interments;

(b) A mausoleum, for crypt interments;

(c) A columbarium, for permanent cinerary interments;

(d) A scattering garden or other designated area above or below ground where a person may pay to establish a memorial of cremated remains; or

(e) A cenotaph, the primary purpose of which is to provide an area where a person may pay to establish a memorial to honor a person whose remains may be interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered.

ORS 692.025(6)Provides that no person or city, county or other municipal corporation shall conduct the business of an operating cemetery without first receiving a certificate of authority to conduct the business of an operating cemetery under ORS 692.275.

ORS 692.010 (7) “Operating cemetery” means a cemetery that:

(a) Performs interments;

(b) Has fiduciary responsibility for endowment care, general care or special care funds; or

(c) Has outstanding preneed service contracts for unperformed services.  

OAR 830-011-0000(8): “Certificate of Authority” A Certificate of Authority is a certificate issued to an individual or corporation who is responsible for the operation of either a cemetery or crematory. If the crematory or cemetery is a corporation, the Certificate of Authority shall be issued to the corporation. [The certificate of authority is the actual license to operate]. Guidelines for Oregon Cemeteries March 2013 Page 4 of 20

ORS 692.275 Certificate of authority for operating cemetery, crematorium or facility for final disposition; fees; registration of certain cemeteries; rules applicable to crematoriums.

(1) A person may not conduct the business of an operating cemetery unless the person has a certificate of authority to do so. A person may apply for a certificate of authority on a form provided by the State Mortuary and Cemetery Board. The application must be accompanied by the application fee established under ORS 692.160. However, any exempt operating cemetery is entitled to receive a certificate of authority to operate upon payment of an initial fee not to exceed $100 and a fee not to exceed $50 for registration of all principals regardless of the total number of principals. An exempt operating cemetery is not required to pay the renewal fee or the fee for any change in principal other than the cemetery manager.

(2) A cemetery, other than an operating cemetery or a historic cemetery2 listed with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries under ORS 97.7823 , must be registered with the board. An owner of a cemetery, other than an operating cemetery or a historic cemetery listed with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries under ORS 97.782, must register the cemetery with the board on a form provided by the board. No fee may be required of a cemetery registrant. ***

(4) For purposes of this section and ORS 692.025, each location of a cemetery or crematorium is a separate location and must be licensed separately. Those cemeteries that are subject to registration must be registered separately. ***

(7) This section applies to operating cemeteries or other cemeteries owned by any city, county or other municipal corporation.

(8) The board may not subject an exempt operating cemetery to random inspections.

ORS 692.010 Definitions

(3) “Exempt operating cemetery” means an operating cemetery that has 10 or fewer interments annually.

(4) “Final disposition” means the burial, interment, cremation, dissolution or other disposition of human remains authorized by the board by rule. ORS 97.010 Definitions

(1) “Burial” means the placement of human remains in a grave or lawn crypt.

(4) “Cemetery” means a place:

(a) Dedicated to and used, or intended to be used, for a permanent memorial or the permanent interment of human remains; and

(b) That may contain a mausoleum, crypt or vault interment, a columbarium, an ossuary, a cenotaph, a scattering garden, any other structure or place used or intended to be used for the interment or disposition of human remains or any combination of these structures or places.

(5) “Cemetery association” means a corporation or association authorized by its articles of incorporation to conduct the business of a cemetery, but does not include a corporation sole or a charitable, eleemosynary association or corporation.

(6) “Cemetery authority” means a person who owns or controls cemetery lands or property, including but not limited to a cemetery corporation, association or corporation sole.

ORS 97.772 Definition of “historic cemetery.” For purposes of ORS 97.772 to 97.784, “historic cemetery” means any burial place that contains the remains of one or more persons who died before February 14, 1909. 3 ORS 97.782: Provides that a historic cemetery that is not an operating cemetery, as defined in ORS 692.010, shall be listed with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries. An owner or any other person or association of individuals that maintains such a historic cemetery shall list the historic cemetery with the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries on a form provided by the commission. No fee shall be required from a historic cemetery for listing. [This legislation was enacted into law in 1999].

Contact OCHP at http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/OCHC/ or phone: (503) 986-0685 Guidelines for Oregon Cemeteries March 2013 Page 5 of 20

(7) “Cemetery business” and “cemetery purpose” are used interchangeably and mean any business or purpose requisite or incident to, or necessary for establishing, maintaining, operating, improving or conducting a cemetery, interring human remains, and the care, preservation and embellishment of cemetery property.

(8) “Cemetery merchandise” means personal property offered for sale or sold for use in connection with the final disposition, memorialization or interment of human remains. “Cemetery merchandise” includes, but is not limited to, an outer burial container and a memorial.

(9) “Cemetery services” means services provided by a cemetery authority for interment or scattering, and installation of cemetery merchandise.

(10) “Cenotaph” means a place, the primary purpose of which is to provide an area where a person may pay to establish a memorial to honor a person whose remains may be interred elsewhere or whose remains cannot be recovered.

(11) “Columbarium” means a structure or room containing receptacles for permanent inurnment of cremated remains in a place used, or intended to be used, and dedicated for cemetery purposes.

(12) “Cremated remains” means the remains of a cremated human body after completion of the cremation process.

(13) “Cremation” means the technical process, using direct flame and heat, that reduces human remains to bone fragments.

(15) “Crypt” or “vault” means a space in a mausoleum of sufficient size used, or intended to be used, to entomb uncremated human remains.

(16) “Directors” or “governing body” means the board of directors, board of trustees or other governing body of a cemetery association.

(18) “Entombment” means the placement of human remains in a crypt or vault.

(21) “Grave” means a space of ground in a burial park used, or intended to be used, for burial of the remains of one person.

(22) “Human remains” or “remains” means the body of a deceased person in any stage of decomposition or after cremation.

(23) “Interment” means the disposition of human remains by inurnment, entombment or burial.

(24) “Inurnment” means the placement of cremated remains in a receptacle and the deposit of the receptacle in a niche.

(25) “Lot,” “plot” or “burial space” means space in a cemetery owned by one or more individuals, an association or fraternal or other organization and used, or intended to be used, for the permanent interment therein of the remains of one or more deceased persons. Such terms include and apply with like effect to one, or more than one, adjoining grave, crypt, vault or niche.

(26) “Mausoleum” means a structure substantially exposed above ground for the entombment of human remains in crypts or vaults in a place used, or intended to be used, and dedicated for cemetery purposes.

(27) “Memorial” means a product, other than a mausoleum or columbarium, used for identifying an interment space or for commemoration of the life, deeds or career of a decedent including, but not limited to, an ossuary, monument, marker, niche plate, urn garden plaque, crypt plate, cenotaph, marker bench or vase. Guidelines for Oregon Cemeteries March 2013 Page 6 of 20

(28) “Niche” means a recess usually in a columbarium used, or intended to be used, for the inurnment of the cremated remains of one or more persons.

(29) “Ossuary” means a receptacle used for the communal placement of cremated remains without benefit of an urn or any other container in which cremated remains may be commingled with other cremated remains and are nonrecoverable.

(30) “Plot owner” or “owner” means any person identified in the records of the cemetery authority as owner of the burial rights to a burial plot, or who holds a certificate of ownership conveyed from the cemetery authority of the burial rights in a particular lot, plot or space.

(31) “Scattering” means the lawful dispersion of cremated remains that need not be associated with an interment right or issuance of a deed, that may be recorded only as a service that has taken place and may not be recorded on the permanent records of the cemetery authority.

(32) “Scattering garden” means a location set aside within a cemetery that is used for the spreading or broadcasting of cremated remains that have been removed from their container and can be mixed with or placed on top of the soil or ground cover or buried in an underground receptacle on a commingled basis and that are nonrecoverable.

(33) “Special care” means any care in excess of endowed care in accordance with the specific directions of a donor of funds. [Amended by 1955 c.545 §1; 1965 c.396 §1; 2007 c.661 §1; 2009 c.709 §10]