Cemeteries

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on how cemetery companies are to obtain geographical coordinates for existing burials or if they must update these records.

Cemetery Burial Records

This bill amends Tennessee's laws to require cemetery companies to record precise geographical locations using latitude and longitude for each burial and to send a copy of this information to funeral homes within 15 days.

What This Bill Does

• Requires cemetery companies to include the precise geographical location, using latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, in their records for every burial.
• Mandates that cemetery companies transmit a copy of the burial record to the funeral establishment responsible for the arrangements within 15 days after the date of burial.

Who It Names or Affects

• Cemetery companies operating in Tennessee
• Funeral establishments arranging burials

Terms To Know

latitude and longitude

Numbers that show the exact location of a place on Earth, like GPS coordinates.

funeral establishment

A business that handles funeral arrangements for people who have died.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how cemetery companies will obtain the geographical information.
• It is unclear whether existing burial records need to be updated with coordinates.
• This law only applies to Tennessee and takes effect on January 1, 2027.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires a record to be kept of every burial in the cemetery of
a
cemetery company, showing the date of burial and name of the person buried, together with the designation of lot or space in which the burial was made.

Effective January 1, 2027, t
his bill requires

the record
to
include the precise geographical location using latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates for the designation of the lot or space in which the burial was made.
Further, a
copy of
such
record
must
be transmitted to the funeral establishment responsible for the arrangements of the person buried at the interment site within 15 days after the date of
the
burial.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 2631
By Bailey

HOUSE BILL 2171
By Travis
HB2171
012416
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4;
Title 46 and Title 62, Chapter 5, relative to
cemeteries.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 46-1-111(a), is amended by deleting
the first sentence and substituting:
A record must be kept of every burial in the cemetery of the cemetery company,
showing the date of burial and name of the person buried, together with the
designation of lot or space in which the burial was made, including the precise
geographical location using latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. A copy of
this record must be transmitted to the funeral establishment, as defined under §
62-5-101, responsible for the arrangements of the person buried at the interment
site within fifteen (15) days after the date of burial.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect January 1, 2027, the public welfare requiring it.