All Roll Calls
Yes: 159 • No: 1
TennesseeSB 0715114th General Assembly (2025-2026)SenateWALLET
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 46, relative to cemeteries.
Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable
Signed by Governor
Cemeteries
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 3 mixed.
Unused burial rights risk loss
Beginning January 1, 2026, burial rights can return to the cemetery after 75 years without known contact with the recorded owner or, if deceased, an heir or beneficiary. The cemetery must conduct a reasonable search, send certified notice to the last known address when available, and post a description on its website, if available, for at least 12 months. No one must prove ownership within one year after publication begins, and an installed memorial blocks reclamation. For up to 25 years after reclamation, proven owners of rights later used or sold are entitled to a replacement from cemetery inventory worth the resale price or original purchase price, whichever is greater. Cemeteries must document reclamations and give records to the Tennessee Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance on request; the law bars causes of action arising from reclamation under this process.
Fee protections for cemetery customers
Beginning January 1, 2026, memorial-care fees are capped at $0.75 per square inch of ground covered and cannot exceed installation fees. Annual memorial-care and installation fee increases cannot exceed the year-end Consumer Price Index percentage, and neither fee can vary by seller. Cemeteries can bar outside installers only when their installation fee stays within the $0.75-per-square-inch scale, adjusted for inflation; above it, owners or their representatives, agents, heirs, or assigns can request outside installation. Cemeteries must install items bought elsewhere within 30 days after receiving them, weather permitting. Any cemetery administrative, processing, or paperwork fee must be the same for everyone and appear on its posted schedule of charges.
New state fee for cemetery contracts
Beginning January 1, 2026, cemetery companies pay $20 per advance-purchase contract from the prior renewal period when renewing registration. Contracts canceled before the renewal request are exempt, and a contract covering both cemetery and funeral merchandise incurs one fee. The money goes into a new cemetery state administrative account within the state general fund. Companies do not have to pass this fee to customers. If they do, customers can be charged only one state administrative fee for cemetery contracts signed at the same time.
Cemetery care deposits avoid repeat payments
Beginning January 1, 2026, cemetery companies must deposit care money for land burial rights: the greater of $1 per square foot or 20% of the transaction amount. That rule excludes lawn crypt rights and land donated free for someone who died under age 18. For lawn crypt rights, the minimum is $50 or 20% of the land transaction amount, excluding the crypt, whichever is greater. For each mausoleum, crypt, niche, or memorial other than a cemetery commodity, the minimum is 10% of the transaction amount. These are company trust deposits, not a required extra customer charge; later sales of rights to the same property or memorial require no repeat deposit if one was already made.
Cemetery trusts face withdrawal limits
Beginning January 1, 2026, cemetery trust distributions cannot exceed 5% of the trust's average year-end market value. The average uses the preceding three fiscal years. If a trust has existed for less than two years, it uses each fiscal year it has existed. This limits money taken from care funds while preserving more money in the trust; it sets no direct household payment.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
There is no primary sponsor on record.
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 3/20/2025
FLOOR VOTE: Motion to Concur House Amendment # 2 3/20/2025
Yes: 32 • No: 0
House vote • 3/17/2025
FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR AS AMENDED PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 3/17/2025
Yes: 92 • No: 0
Senate vote • 3/10/2025
FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 3/10/2025
Yes: 28 • No: 1
Senate vote • 3/4/2025
SENATE COMMERCE AND LABOR COMMITTEE
Yes: 7 • No: 0
Bill Text
HA0093
3/17/2025
Enrolled / Public Chapter
Fiscal Note
HA0092
Introduced
SA0073
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