HB319: Funeral services; prerequisites for cremation.

HOUSE BILL NO. 319
Offered January 13, 2010
Prefiled January 11, 2010
A BILL to amend and reenact § 54.1-2818.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to prerequisites for cremation.
Patron-- Alexander

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 54.1-2818.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 54.1-2818.1. Prerequisites for cremation.

No dead human body shall be cremated without (i) permission of the medical examiner as required by § 32.1-284 and either (ii) visual identification of the deceased by the next-of-kin or his representative, who may be any person designated to make arrangements for the decedent's burial or the disposition of his remains pursuant to § 54.1-2825 or an agent named in an advance directive pursuant to § 54.1-2984 or (iii) a twenty-four-hour waiting period between the time of death and the cremation. When visual identification is not feasible, other positive identification of the deceased may be used as a prerequisite for cremation.

2.  That the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers shall promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this act to be effective within 280 days of its enactment.