Title 68, CEMETERIES, MORGUES, AND HUMAN REMAINS

(1) Every person who in a cemetery unlawfully or without right willfully destroys, cuts, mutilates, effaces, or otherwise injures, tears down or removes, any tomb, plot, monument, memorial, or marker in a cemetery, or any gate, door, fence, wall, post, or railing, or any enclosur…

(1) Any person who knowingly removes, mutilates, defaces, injures, or destroys any historic grave shall be guilty of a class C felony punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW. Persons disturbing historic graves through inadvertence, including disturbance through construction, shall rei…

(1) Any person who discovers skeletal human remains shall notify the coroner and local law enforcement in the most expeditious manner possible. Any person knowing of the existence of skeletal human remains and not having good reason to believe that the coroner and local law enfor…

Any person who violates any provision of this chapter is liable in a civil action by and in the name of the department of archaeology and historic preservation to pay all damages occasioned by their unlawful acts. The sum recovered shall be applied in payment for the repair and r…

(1)(a) The funeral and cemetery board must consult with the department of archaeology and historic preservation to promulgate rules in order to allow for burials in abandoned cemeteries. (b) The landowner of an abandoned cemetery must allow for burials in accordance with rules pr…

It is lawful to enter an abandoned cemetery for purposes of: (1) Burials pursuant to RCW 68.60.070 and associated rules; (2) Care and maintenance activities authorized under RCW 68.60.030; and (3) Visitation of graves. [ 2019 c 129 s 1.] Notes: Effective date—2019 c 129: "This ac…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Adult" means an individual who is at least 18 years old. (2) "Agent" means an individual: (a) Authorized to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf by a …

This chapter applies to an anatomical gift or amendment to, revocation of, or refusal to make an anatomical gift, whenever made. [ 2008 c 139 s 3.]

Subject to RCW 68.64.070, an anatomical gift of a donor's body or part may be made during the life of the donor in the manner provided in RCW 68.64.040 by: (1) The donor, if the donor is an adult or if the donor is a minor and is: (a) Emancipated; or (b) Authorized under state la…

(1) A donor may make an anatomical gift: (a) By authorizing a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor's driver's license or identification card; (b) In a will; (c) During a terminal illness or injury of the donor, by …

(1) Subject to RCW 68.64.070, a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under RCW 68.64.030 may amend or revoke an anatomical gift by: (a) A record signed by: (i) The donor; (ii) The other person; or (iii) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, another ind…

(1) An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by: (a) A record signed by: (i) The individual; or (ii) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically…

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7) of this section and subject to subsection (6) of this section, in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the donor, a person other than the donor is barred from making, amending, or revoking an anatomical gift of a don…

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this section and unless barred by RCW 68.64.060 or 68.64.070, an anatomical gift of a decedent's body or part may be made by any member of the following classes of persons who is reasonably available, in the order of priority listed: (a) …

(1) A person authorized to make an anatomical gift under RCW 68.64.080 may make an anatomical gift by a document of gift signed by the person making the gift or by that person's oral communication that is electronically recorded or is contemporaneously reduced to a record and sig…

(1) An anatomical gift may be made to the following persons named in the document of gift: (a) For research or education: A hospital; an accredited medical school, dental school, college, or university; or an organ procurement organization; (b) Subject to subsection (2) of this s…

(1) A document of gift is valid if executed in accordance with: (a) This chapter; (b) The laws of the state or country where it was executed; or (c) The laws of the state or country where the person making the anatomical gift was domiciled, has a place of residence, or was a nati…

(1) A document of gift need not be delivered during the donor's lifetime to be effective. (2) Upon or after an individual's death, a person in possession of a document of gift or a refusal to make an anatomical gift with respect to the individual shall allow examination and copyi…

(1) When a hospital refers an individual at or near death to a procurement organization, the organization shall make a reasonable search of the records of the department of licensing and any donor registry that it knows exists for the geographical area in which the individual res…

When English is not the first language of the person or persons making, amending, revoking, or refusing anatomical gifts as defined in chapter 139, Laws of 2008, organ procurement organizations are responsible for providing, at no cost, appropriate interpreter services or transla…

Each hospital in this state shall enter into agreements or affiliations with procurement organizations for coordination of procurement and use of anatomical gifts. [ 2008 c 139 s 15.]

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person who, for valuable consideration, knowingly purchases or sells a part for transplantation or therapy if removal of a part from an individual is intended to occur after the individual's death is guilty of …

A person who, in order to obtain financial gain, intentionally falsifies, forges, conceals, defaces, or obliterates a document of gift, an amendment or revocation of a document of gift, or a refusal is guilty of a class C felony under RCW 9A.20.010. [ 2008 c 139 s 17.]

(1) A person who acts in accordance with this chapter or with the applicable anatomical gift law of another state, or attempts in good faith to do so, is not liable for the act in a civil action, criminal prosecution, or administrative proceeding. (2) Neither the person making an…

(1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (a) "Advance health care directive" means a power of attorney for health care or a "directive" as defined in RCW 70.122.020. (b) "Declaration" means a record signed…

(1)(a) A coroner or medical examiner shall cooperate with procurement organizations, to the extent that such cooperation does not prevent, hinder, or impede the timely investigation of death, to facilitate the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts for the purpose of transplanta…

(1) The department of licensing shall electronically transfer all information that appears on the front of a driver's license or identicard including the name, gender, date of birth, and most recent address of any person who obtains a driver's license or identicard and volunteers…

(1) The organ and tissue donation awareness account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts from donations made under RCW 46.16A.090(2), and other contributions and appropriations specifically made for the purposes of organ and tissue donor awareness, shall…

This chapter may be cited as the revised uniform anatomical gift act. [ 2008 c 139 s 1.]

This chapter is subject to the laws of this state governing the jurisdiction of the coroner or medical examiner. [ 2008 c 139 s 22.]

In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it. [ 2008 c 139 s 23.]

This chapter modifies, limits, and supersedes the federal electronic signatures in global and national commerce act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 7001 et seq.) with respect to electronic signatures and anatomical gifts, but does not modify, limit, or supersede section 101(a) of that act (15 U.…

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (1) "Anatomical gift" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 68.64.010. (2) "Auxiliary aids and services" include, but are not limited to: (a) Qualified interpreters or o…

(1) A covered entity may not, solely on the basis of a qualified individual's mental or physical disability: (a) Deem an individual ineligible to receive an anatomical gift or organ transplant; (b) Deny medical or related organ transplantation services, including evaluation, surg…

(1) Any individual who has been subjected to discrimination in violation of this chapter may initiate a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin further violations and recover the cost of the suit including reasonable attorneys' fees. (2) The court must accord …

(1) A natural person may designate an area of land owned by the person as a family burial ground. (2) If a property is co-owned by two or more natural persons, a family burial ground may be established on the property only with the written consent of all co-owners of the property…

(1)(a) A mausoleum, columbarium, or similar structure constructed on a family burial ground and used or intended to be used for interments of human remains must comply with the requirements of this section, whether constructed under or above the surface of the earth, where any po…

The owner of the property on which a family burial ground is located may not: (1) Offer for sale plots in the family burial ground or space in a mausoleum or columbarium located on the family burial ground; or (2) Charge fees for any goods or services provided by the owner in con…

Within 30 days of each interment in a family burial ground, the owner of the property on which a family burial ground is located shall report the interment to the Washington state department of archaeology and historic preservation and record every interment with the county audit…

Before the sale of the property on which a family burial ground is located, the owner of the property shall disclose to the prospective buyer the existence of the family burial ground and any mausoleums or columbaria erected on the family burial ground. [ 2026 c 173 s 6.] Notes: …

(1)(a) The owner of the property on which a family burial ground is located may relocate human remains from the family burial ground with the written consent of one of the following surviving family members, in the order named: (i) The surviving spouse or state registered domesti…

Cities and counties are authorized to enact ordinances regulating or prohibiting the establishment of family burial grounds or the extension of existing family burial grounds and to give power to local planning commissions to pass upon and make recommendations to local legislativ…