An Act To Create a System Using the Permit for Disposition of Human Remains To Track the Burial of Cremated Remains in a Public Cemetery
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1484
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: DOORE, DESCHAMBAULT, HANDY
Amends: 22 MRSA §2843

Legislative Document
No. 1484
H.P. 1086
House of Representatives, April 4, 2019
An Act To Create a System Using the Permit for Disposition of 
Human Remains To Track the Burial of Cremated Remains in a 
Public Cemetery
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative DOORE of Augusta.
Cosponsored by Senator DESCHAMBAULT of York and
Representative: HANDY of Lewiston.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §2843, sub-§3-A, as amended by PL 2017, c. 363, §1, is 
further amended to read:
3-A.  Authorization for burial of cremated remains in public burying ground.  
The State Registrar of Vital Statistics shall provide an authorization to be used for the 
purposes of this subsection.  If cremated remains are buried in a public burying ground in 
this the State, the person in charge of the public burying ground may shall endorse and 
provide record the date the cremated remains were buried on each permit with which that 
person is presented an authorization for the remains and return it the authorization to the 
State Registrar of Vital Statistics or to the clerk of the municipality in which the public 
burying ground is located within 7 days after the cremated remains were buried.  If there 
is no person in charge of the public burying ground, an official of the municipality in 
which the public burying ground is located may shall endorse and provide record the date 
the cremated remains were buried on each such permit the authorization and present it the 
authorization to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics or the clerk of the municipality.  
The If an authorization is not returned to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics within 7 
days after cremated remains were buried, the funeral director or authorized person may 
present a copy of each permit the authorization, if the permit authorization has been 
endorsed, to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics or the clerk of the municipality where 
death occurred and to the clerk who issued the permit.  For the purposes of this 
subsection, "public burying ground" has the same meaning as in Title 13, section 1101-A, 
subsection 4 authorization.
For purposes of this subsection, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following 
terms have the following meanings.
A.  "Authorization" means the form or electronic process prescribed and furnished by 
the State Registrar of Vital Statistics for the purpose of recording the consent of an 
authorized person for the burial or removal of cremated remains in a public burying 
ground as specified by department rule.
B.  "Burial" means all manner of dispersal or deposit in or on the ground or in a 
structure.
C.  "Public burying ground" has the same meaning as in Title 13, section 1101-A, 
subsection 4.
SUMMARY
This bill changes the requirements for persons responsible for public burying grounds 
by changing the documentation of cremated remains buried in a burying ground from a 
permissive function to a mandated duty to be performed by the responsible person within 
days of the cremated remains being buried.