Allows interment of cremated pet remains in certain cemeteries.

A4151

ASSEMBLY, No. 4151

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� CAROL A. MURPHY

District 7 (Burlington)

SYNOPSIS

���� Allows interment of cremated pet remains in certain
cemeteries.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning the interment of cremated pet remains
in certain cemeteries and amending and supplementing P.L.2003, c.261.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

����
1.��� Section
2 of P.L.2003, c.261 (C.45:27-2) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.��� The
following definitions, unless the context indicates otherwise, apply to this
act:

���� "Annual,
endowed or special care" means care or maintenance of an individual
interment space provided for by agreement between the cemetery and the owner of
the space.

���� "Board"
means the New Jersey Cemetery Board.

���� "Burial"
means disposition of human remains by placing them in a grave or crypt, but
does not include their temporary storage.

���� "Burial
right" means a right for the burial of human remains in a particular grave
or crypt created by contract between a person and a cemetery.

���� "Cemetery"
means any land or place used or dedicated for use for burial of human remains,
cremation of human remains, or disposition of cremated human remains.

���� "Cemetery
company" means a person that owns, manages, operates or controls a
cemetery, directly or indirectly, but does not include a religious organization
that owns a cemetery which restricts burials to members of that religion or
their families unless the organization has obtained a certificate of authority
for the cemetery.

���� "Columbarium"
means a building or structure containing niches for placement of cremated human
remains.

���� "Cremated
human remains" means the recoverable bone fragments and container residue
resulting from the process of cremation
of human remains or of a deceased
human being
.

����
�Cremated
pet remains� means the recoverable bone fragments and container residue
resulting from the process of cremation of pet remains or of a deceased pet.

���� "Cremation"
means the process of reducing human
or pet
remains to bone fragments
through flame, heat and vaporization.

���� "Crematory"
means a structure containing cremation chambers used to cremate human remains.

���� "Crypt"
means an interment space in a mausoleum or other structure, above or below
ground.

���� "Embellishment"
means an item contributing to beauty, comfort or enhancement of a cemetery, but
does not include a memorial or a disposable, perishable or seasonal item.

���� "General
maintenance charge" means a fee assessed against each interment space for
the general upkeep of the cemetery.

���� "Grave"
means a place for underground disposition of human remains or cremated human
remains. �A grave may include spaces for the disposition of human remains of
more than one person, arranged by depth.

���� "Human
remains" means a body, or part of a body, of a deceased human being.

���� "Interment"
means the disposition of human remains
or cremated pet remains
by burial
in a grave or crypt but does not mean the temporary storage of remains.

���� "Interment
space" means a grave or crypt intended for the interment of human remains.

���� "Maintenance"
means all activities of a cemetery company which further the care and upkeep of
a cemetery, including cutting lawns, and preservation and repair of drains,
water lines, roads, buildings, fences and other structures.

���� "Maintenance
and preservation" means the care of the entire cemetery to the extent of
the income of the Maintenance and Preservation Fund; it does not include
providing specific care to individual graves or plots.

���� "Mausoleum"
means a permanent building in a cemetery above or below ground, containing
crypts to be used for burial.

���� "Memorial"
means a marker or monument located at a grave containing the name of a deceased
person or the family name of a deceased person, or an effigy or other
representation of a deceased person buried in the grave. �It does not include
an embellishment.

���� "Niche"
means a space in a columbarium or mausoleum for placement of cremated human
remains
or both cremated human remains and cremated pet remains
.

���� "Path"
means a course or way intended to provide pedestrian access to interment
spaces.

���� "Person"
includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association or any other
public or private entity.

����
�Pet�
means any domesticated animal normally maintained in or near the household of
the owner thereof.

���� "Plot"
or "lot" means an area of cemetery ground containing two or more
adjoining graves.

���� "Private
mausoleum" means a mausoleum constructed by or for a plot owner and not
owned by the cemetery.

���� "Public
mausoleum" means a mausoleum, built in accordance with regulations of the
Department of Community Affairs, owned by a cemetery or cemetery company with
the intention of use of interment spaces in it by the general public. �A
mausoleum is distinguished from a single or multiple vault in that it is a
single integrated structure assembled on the premises. �It shall not consist of
one or more vaults constructed off the cemetery premises and installed singly
or in series at the cemetery premises.

���� "Roadway"
means a course or way intended to provide vehicle access to interment spaces.

���� "Vault"
means a prefabricated outer burial case of any material, designed to be
installed in the ground to receive one or more burials, and not a part of a
public or private mausoleum or any other structure.

(cf:
P.L.2011, c.230, s.1.)

���� 2.��� Section
16 of P.L.2003, c.261 (C.45:27-16) is amended to read as follows:

���� 16.� a.�
A cemetery company shall:

���� (1)�� adopt
reasonable regulations for the use, management and protection of the cemetery
and of all interment spaces in it; for regulating the dividing marks between
graves; for prohibiting or regulating the erection of structures; for
preventing unsightly monuments, effigies and structures within the cemetery,
and for their removal;

���� (2)�� fix
reasonable charges for interment spaces, niches, products and services offered
by the cemetery company; and

���� (3)�� keep
its books, records and accounts so as to reflect the conduct of its business.

���� b.��� A
cemetery company may:

���� (1)�� prohibit
the placement of memorials, effigies or structures on parts of the cemetery and
adopt reasonable regulations relating to uniformity, class, composition,
material, kinds and sizes of all markers, monuments and other structures within
the cemetery provided that the regulations are not established to prevent
competition;

���� (2)�� sell
adornments, embellishments, sod and plantings for use in the cemetery;

���� (3)�� prevent
the use of interment spaces or niches for purposes that violate the cemetery
restrictions and regulations;

���� (4)�� regulate
the conduct of persons and prevent improper assemblages in the cemetery;

���� (5)�� reserve
to the cemetery the exclusive right to open and fill graves, furnish equipment,
manufacture and install foundations, set and seal crypts and vaults, seal
niches and install flush memorials;

���� (6)�� regulate
or prevent the introduction of embellishments or plants within the cemetery;

���� (7)�� prevent
the interment in any interment space of human remains not entitled to interment
there;

���� (8)�� as
provided in this act, make provisions for the removal at the cost of the lot
owner of any memorial, effigy or structure when either placed in violation of
cemetery company rules and regulations or when it becomes dangerous or
unsightly;
[
and
]

��
(9)�� to the extent
allowed by the regulations of the board, prohibit the interment of human
remains or the placement of any memorial when there are any outstanding charges
against the interment space
; and

����
(10)�
prohibit the interment of cremated pet remains
.

���� c.���� A
cemetery company, and any person engaged in the management, operation or
control of a cemetery owned by a cemetery company, directly or indirectly, is
specifically prohibited from engaging, directly or indirectly, in any of the
following activities:

���� (1)�� the
manufacture or sale of memorials;

���� (2)�� the
manufacture or sale of private mausoleums;

���� (3)�� the
manufacture or sale of vaults, including vaults installed in a grave before or
after sale and including vaults joined with each other in the ground; and

���� (4)�� the
conduct of any funeral home or the business or profession of mortuary science;
provided that crematoriums operated in conjunction with funeral homes prior to
December 1, 1971 are excepted from the provisions of this paragraph (4).

(cf:
P.L.2003,c.261, s.16)

���� 3.��� (New
section)� a.� Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a cemetery may permit
the interment of cremated pet remains. �If a cemetery permits the interment of
cremated pet remains, the interment shall be available to a lot owner only if:

���� (1)�� the
interment takes place simultaneously with the interment of human remains; and

���� (2)�� written
authorization has been provided by the cemetery company to the lot owner
authorizing the interment of cremated pet remains.

���� b.��� The
cemetery company shall provide a list of charges for the interment of cremated
pet remains. �Payments received for interment of cremated pet remains shall be
deposited in the cemetery company�s Maintenance and Preservation Fund.

���� c.���� Cremated
pet remains shall not be interred in a columbarium or public mausoleum.

���� d.��� Nothing
in this section shall obligate a cemetery company to allow interment of
cremated pet remains where prior approval has not been received at the time of
sale or in advance of need.

���� 4.��� This
act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

����
This
bill allows cremated pet remains to be interred alongside human remains in a
cemetery. �The interment of cremated pet remains shall take place
simultaneously with the interment of human remains, and a cemetery company must
provide written approval for the interment of cremated pet remains to the lot
owner authorizing the interment of cremated pet remains. �The cemetery is
required to provide a list of any charges related to the interment to the
customer. �Cremated pet remains may not be interred in a columbarium or public
mausoleum.

���� The
bill defines �cremated pet remains� as the recoverable bone fragments and
container residue resulting from the process of cremation of a pet. �The bill
allows a cemetery company to deny the interment of cremated pet remains in the
cemetery.