GeorgiaSB 2412025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Funeral Directors; organic human reduction as a means of disposing of deceased human bodies; provide

Sponsored By: Lee Anderson (Republican), Derek Mallow (Democrat), Elena Parent (Democrat), Randy Robertson (Republican), Rick Williams (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Regulated IndustriesRegulated Industries and UtilitiesGeneral Bill

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

12 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 2 costs, 6 mixed.

County funeral help for low-income families

Beginning July 1, 2025, the county where a person died must fund a decent burial, cremation, or other final disposition. The deceased person, family, and immediate relatives must all be indigent and unable to pay. The county sets the amount, which cannot exceed the actual cost, and may repay immediate relatives who paid voluntarily. Georgia's Department of Corrections may reimburse counties for inmates under its authority. That reimbursement is unavailable when the deceased person was in county correctional custody.

Veterans get an unclaimed remains pathway

Funeral directors must reasonably try to identify veterans when cremation or organic human reduction is requested. They can seek Veterans Affairs information through veterans' organizations, and the process must not delay reduction. Directors must hold a veteran's unclaimed reduced remains for at least 60 days before requesting written disposition instructions. Without a written response within 30 days after notice, they must contact a veterans' organization to arrange a veterans' cemetery placement. Directors and veterans' organizations have civil and criminal immunity for veteran-status determinations and disclosures, except for willful or wanton misconduct.

Body protections preserve lawful funeral choices

Beginning July 1, 2025, Georgia's dead-body abuse offense covers willful defacement before final disposition in the places listed by law. Being lawfully present at the location is not a defense; conduct otherwise authorized by law is excluded. Lawful final disposition under a valid death certificate is exempt from the dead-body abandonment offense. This includes scattering cremated or organically reduced remains. Reduction facility operators are also protected when acting under duties authorized by law or lawful contracts.

Stronger funeral standards and kickback ban

Funeral directors and embalmers cannot give or promise anything of value to induce another practitioner to provide funeral services. Improper rewards, commissions, and kickbacks are prohibited and can trigger discipline or a separate offense. Georgia can discipline licensees and registrants who fail to meet minimum reasonable funeral-service standards. Discipline also covers willful violations of local rules for handling, custody, care, or transport of deceased people. Other listed grounds address fraud, privacy violations, mishandled property, failure to refund, and violations of health and safety rules.

One cremation discipline ground is narrowed

Georgia removes gross or willful malpractice and gross neglect in cremation from one specific ground for funeral-board discipline. That ground still covers malpractice or neglect in embalming and funeral directing. This change does not remove the Board's other grounds for discipline.

Reduction businesses face licensing and inspections

Organic human reduction facilities must hold Georgia Board of Funeral Service licenses for their specific locations. Licenses are nontransferable and must be renewed every two years with a Board-set fee. Owners must notify the Board at least 15 days before a planned ownership change, and facilities face at least annual inspections. Unlicensed operation carries a $100–$500 fine per violation upon conviction; each day counts as a separate offense. The Board can also suspend or revoke licenses, impose probation, or issue fines for violations.

Families gain sea burial with deadlines

Beginning July 1, 2025, organically reduced remains can be taken by boat from a Georgia harbor or by air for sea burial. Burial must be at least three miles from the nearest shoreline, and remains must be removed from their container. Services must be completed within 50 days after reduction, unless unsafe weather prevents burial. The person carrying out the burial must file a verified statement with the local registrar in the county nearest the burial point.

New body reduction option for families

Beginning July 1, 2025, Georgia recognizes organic human reduction as a legal option alongside burial and cremation. The process breaks down a deceased person's body into reduced remains. A legally authorized person can contract with a licensed reduction facility for funeral services and final disposition. Funeral directors at these facilities can sell funeral merchandise, and vital-records and funeral-service rules cover the new option. The funeral director or other person first taking custody must obtain a disposition permit, including for a fetus.

Unclaimed remains rules cap family charges

Reduction requesters must provide a mailing address, and providers must send first-class notice when remains are ready. The authorizing person must sign a statement of the planned final disposition, if known; shipments need internal tracking and signed receipts. After 60 days from cremation or reduction, holders must notify the authorizing person when remains are unclaimed and instructions are missing. Without specific instructions within 30 days after that notice, holders can arrange lawful, dignified burial, entombment, scattering, or storage. They must record the disposition and mark the resting place unless remains are scattered; the authorizing person's covered costs cannot exceed $100. A separate rule allows remains unclaimed for 60 days after mailed readiness notice to follow this process instead of mandatory coroner transfer.

Safer remains handling with new paperwork

Reduction facilities must process remains until no fragment is recognizable as skeletal tissue. They can place only one body in a reduction container unless the person legally responsible gives written permission. Identification tags must accompany bodies, and remains containers need labels and release paperwork; container labels must exclude Social Security numbers. The Board can set sanitary rules and require container checks by manufacturers or authorized repair companies at least every five years. Facilities must file periodic reports identifying whose bodies were reduced and the container types used. Beginning July 1, 2025, covered handlers must also keep identity and handling records for bodies and fetuses, as state health rules require.

Director rules with temporary facility relief

Funeral establishments, crematories, and reduction facilities need a Georgia-resident licensed funeral director in full and continuous charge. The director must serve only one facility, work at least 40 hours weekly, remain accessible, and display their name and license number. Directors living at a funeral establishment to meet this rule need furnished sleeping quarters and cooking, refrigeration, and bathing facilities. A director vacancy allows 90 days to appoint an approved replacement, plus one 90-day extension for good cause. The total cannot exceed 180 days in two years, and the facility must notify the Board within five days of departure. After disaster destruction, five-day notice allows a request for a Board-approved temporary location for 90 days, with further 90-day extensions for good cause. A deceased license holder's license can pass to the legal representative, or widow if none exists, for its remaining term.

Reduction facilities face equipment and location limits

Reduction facilities need a separate location license and must pay an application fee. Most need seating for at least 30 people, a container display room, and at least one Georgia-registered motor hearse. They also need at least one working reduction container, processing or grinding station, and wheeled casket carrier called a church truck. Facilities serving only funeral establishments are exempt from the seating, display-room, and church-truck requirements. For licenses issued or renewed from July 1, 2025, stand-alone facilities not operating by that date face a 1,000-foot residential-subdivision setback. Stand-alone means neither on nor next to a parcel containing a funeral establishment. Funeral establishments and crematories licensed and performing reduction on July 1, 2025, can delay separate licensing until their first renewal afterward.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

Alan Powell
Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 209 • No: 5

House vote • 3/31/2025

PASSAGE

Yes: 157 • No: 4 • Other: 3

Senate vote • 3/4/2025