Title 20, Public Health and Welfare

(a) This subchapter does not create or recognize a right to abortion. (b) It is not the intention of this subchapter to make lawful an abortion that is currently unlawful.

The General Assembly, by joint resolution, may appoint one (1) or more of its members who sponsored or cosponsored this subchapter, as a matter of right and in his or her official capacity, to intervene to defend this law in any case in which its constitutionality is challenged.

This subchapter takes effect on January 1, 2016.

This subchapter may be cited as the “Cemetery Act for Perpetually Maintained Cemeteries”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Care and maintenance” means the continual maintenance of the cemetery grounds and graves in keeping with a properly maintained cemetery;(2) (A) “Cemetery” means any land or a structure in this state dedicated to and used or intended to be used …

(a) This subchapter applies to all cemeteries and burial grounds located in the State of Arkansas unless the cemetery is owned and operated by:(1) A church or similar religious organization;(2) A municipality or county government;(3) A family, exclusively for its own family use; …

(a) (1) An examined cemetery company shall pay the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services for the examination:(A) One hundred dollars ($100) per day for each examiner who conducts the examination; and(B) The amount necessary to reimburse the …

(a) (1) Before making application to the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services for a permit to establish and operate a new cemetery or for the extension of the boundaries of an existing cemetery, the cemetery company proposing to make applic…

(a) Upon submission of an application to the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services for the issuance of a permit for a new cemetery or for an extension of the boundaries of an existing cemetery, the applicant shall request that the Department…

(a) An individual is dead who has sustained either:(1) Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions; or(2) Irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. (1) Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions…

(a) If the cemetery company has fully complied with this subchapter and if the Department of Health approves the location of the new cemetery or the extension of the boundaries of an existing cemetery, then the application shall be submitted to the State Board of Embalmers, Funer…

(a) Whenever it is proposed that a cemetery subject to this subchapter amend its present permit, whether for construction of a structure such as a mausoleum or columbarium, reduction of boundaries of twenty percent (20%) or more, reduction or increase in percentage of gross sales…

(a) As used in this section, “controlling interest” means the direct or indirect power to direct the management and policies of a perpetual care cemetery or cemetery company by contract or otherwise, other than as an officer or employee of the perpetual care cemetery or cemetery …

(a) (1) (A) The permanent maintenance fund is a trust fund for the purpose of administration, care, and maintenance of the cemetery, including lots, graves, spaces, crypts, niches, and burial rights.(B) The principal of the permanent maintenance fund shall be preserved except for…

(a) The net income from the permanent maintenance fund shall only be used for general maintenance, administration, and preservation of the perpetual care cemetery. (b) (1) A cemetery company shall establish a permanent maintenance fund with or transfer the permanent maintenance f…

(a) (1) Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of each calendar year, the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services shall require the trustee of the permanent maintenance fund to file under oath a detailed annual report of the condition of …

(a) Unless a greater amount is established by rule of the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services, a cemetery company shall deposit into its permanent maintenance fund a sum not less than:(1) Twenty percent (20%) of the gross proceeds from the…

The permanent maintenance fund may also receive, take, and hold therefor and as part thereof or as incident thereto any real, personal, or mixed property bequeathed, devised, granted, given, or otherwise contributed to it.

(a) In addition to the civil provisions of this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person to:(1) Advertise or operate all or part of a cemetery as a perpetual care cemetery or permanent maintenance cemetery without holding a valid permit issued by the State Board of Embalme…

(a) (1) An instrument conveying all or part of a burial lot or burial plot shall be issued to the purchaser upon full payment of the purchase price of the burial lot or burial plot.(2) The cemetery company shall not use an instrument to convey a burial lot or burial plot unless t…

(a) (1) This section may be cited as the “Arkansas Final Disposition Rights Act of 2009”.(2) As used in this section:(A) “DD Form 93” means a United States Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data or its successor form;(B) “Died while serving” means the death of a person in…

It is unlawful for a cemetery company to bury or inter a body in any driveway, roadway, path, alley, or walk.

(a) All contributions imposed under this subchapter shall be:(1) Deposited into the respective permanent maintenance fund of the cemetery company upon which the contribution is imposed; and(2) Paid within forty-five (45) days of imposition. (1) Deposited into the respective perma…

(a) All cemetery companies shall make and keep accounts and records which shall indicate that they have made the required contributions to the permanent maintenance fund. The burden is upon the cemetery company to maintain the accounts and records. (b) Unless otherwise approved b…

(a) (1) Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of the calendar year, a cemetery company shall file with the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services a report under oath of its condition.(2) The report shall include without limitation:(A) T…

(a) The State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services shall maintain a segregated fund within its general operating fund to be known as the Insolvent Cemetery Loan Fund, which shall be administered by the Insurance Commissioner and only used to lend…

(a) Within seventy-five (75) days after the end of the calendar year, each permit holder shall pay to the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services a permit renewal fee in the amount of one hundred dollars ($100). (b) All annual permit fees shal…

(a) (1) The State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services may contract with the municipality or county where a cemetery is located for the care and maintenance and the operation of the cemetery.(2) Services relating to the care and maintenance and t…

Within thirty (30) calendar days after a death certificate is filed pursuant to § 20-18-601, the Division of Vital Records of the Department of Health shall provide notification of the death to the county and circuit court clerks in the county where the deceased was a resident.

(a) A cemetery company may maintain an infant interment garden if:(1) The cemetery company provides the State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services a letter of intent to establish an infant interment garden and a map of the location for the infant…

(a) A cemetery company that holds a permit to own and operate a perpetual care cemetery under § 23-61-1101 et seq. shall properly care for, maintain, and preserve the perpetual care cemetery. (b) A cemetery owner is not responsible for faulty monument installation and upkeep by a…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Dependent lividity” means clear demarcation of pooled blood within the body;(2) “Nursing facility” means the same as long-term care facility as defined in § 20-10-101; and(3) “Rigor” means that major joints such as the jaw, shoulders, elbows, hips…

(a) Information regarding the identity of an organ donor is confidential. (b) (1) Confidentiality under this section may be waived by an individual who made the anatomical gift before a donor's death under § 20-17-1204 or by an individual who made the anatomical gift of a deceden…

Upon the death of a fetus diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition which will result in death within three (3) months of birth or upon the death of a child previously diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition, a physician may distribute information regarding organ and tissue donation …

(a) A dead body is not required to be embalmed. (b) A dead body that is not buried within forty-eight (48) hours after death shall either be embalmed or refrigerated. (c) Embalming or refrigeration is not required when a dead body is to be cremated within forty-eight (48) hours a…

The purpose of the district shall be the building and maintaining of a cemetery or cemeteries for the use and benefit of the property holders within the district, and it is realized that the cemetery would be a benefit to all the real property located in the district.

(a) Upon the petition of a majority in value of the owners of real property in any designated area, it shall be the duty of the county court to lay off into an improvement district the territory described in the petition and to name three (3) commissioners of the district who are…

(a) (1) It shall be the duty of the county clerk to give notice of the filing of the petition, describing the territory to be affected and calling upon all persons who wish to be heard upon the question of the establishment of the district to appear before the county court on a d…

(a) The board of commissioners of a cemetery district shall be resident property holders in the district and shall be citizens of integrity and good business ability. (b) (1) The commissioners shall be appointed to serve for terms of one (1) year, two (2) years, and three (3) yea…

(a) The commissioners may take charge of, purchase, and provide a site or grounds and additions thereto, to provide and maintain streets, aisles, outside fences, drainage, and other necessary facilities, and to employ a caretaker or caretakers for the cutting of grass and the pla…

(a) (1) Within thirty (30) days after their appointment, the commissioners shall take and file their oaths of office with the county clerk, in which they shall swear to support the United States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution, to faithfully discharge their duties as c…

No member of the board of commissioners shall be liable for any damages unless it shall be made to appear that he or she had acted with a corrupt and malicious intent.

(a) Upon the qualification of the commissioners, they shall form plans for the improvements they intend to make and the property and equipment they intend to purchase. (b) (1) The commissioners shall thereupon appoint three (3) assessors to assess the annual benefits which will a…

(a) The assessment shall be filed with the county clerk of the county, and the secretary of the board of commissioners shall thereupon give notice of its filing by publication one (1) time a week for two (2) weeks in a newspaper published and having a bona fide circulation in the…

(a) The commissioners shall one (1) time a year order the assessors to reassess the annual benefits of the district, provided there have been improvements made or improvements destroyed or removed from one (1) or more tracts of land in the district making it necessary to have the…

(a) The board of commissioners of the district shall at the time that the annual benefit assessment is equalized or at any time thereafter enter upon its records an order, which shall have all the force of a judgment, provided that there shall be assessed upon the real property o…