S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7155
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 9, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations,  Authorities
   and Commissions
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  not-for-profit  corporation law, in relation to
   requiring consent prior to the merger of cemetery corporations
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Paragraph (c) of section 1506 of the not-for-profit corpo-
 ration law, as amended by chapter 553 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (c)  Cemeteries  in  Kings,  Queens,  Rockland,  Westchester,  Nassau,
 Suffolk, Putnam and Erie counties. A cemetery corporation shall not take
 by  deed, devise, MERGER or otherwise any land in the counties of Kings,
 Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam or Erie for ceme-
 tery purposes, or set apart any ground therefor in any of such counties,
 unless the consent of the board of supervisors or legislative body ther-
 eof, or of the city council of the city of New York, in respect to Kings
 or Queens county, be first obtained [except as provided in paragraph (n)
 of this section]. Such consent may be granted upon such  conditions  and
 under such regulations and restrictions as the public health and welfare
 may  require. Notice of application for such consent shall be published,
 once a week for six weeks, in the newspapers designated to  publish  the
 session  laws  and  in  such other newspapers published in the county as
 such board or body may direct, stating the  time  when  the  application
 will  be made, a brief description of the lands proposed to be acquired,
 their location and the area thereof. Any person interested  therein  may
 be  heard  on  such  presentation. If such consent is granted the corpo-
 ration may take and hold the lands designated therein. The consent shall
 not authorize any one corporation to take or hold more than two  hundred
 and  fifty  acres  of  land [except as provided in paragraph (n) of this
 section], EXCEPT THAT SUCH LIMITATION SHALL NOT APPLY IN THE EVENT OF  A
 MERGER  OF CEMETERY CORPORATIONS.  Nothing contained in this subdivision
 shall prevent any religious corporation in existence on April fifteenth,
 eighteen hundred fifty-four, in any of said counties from using as here-
 tofore any burial ground then belonging to it within such  county.  Such
 board or body, from time to time, may make such regulation as to burials
              

 in any cemetery in the county as the public health may require.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14727-01-0

 S. 7155                             2

   §  2.  Paragraph (e) of section 1506 of the not-for-profit corporation
 law is amended by adding a new subparagraph 3 to read as follows:
   (3)  NOTWITHSTANDING  THE  PROVISIONS  OF THIS SECTION, AND SUBJECT TO
 SECTION FIFTEEN HUNDRED SIX-D OF  THIS  ARTICLE,  NOTHING  HEREIN  SHALL
 PROHIBIT THE MERGER OF CEMETERY CORPORATIONS, REGARDLESS OF PROXIMITY OR
 THE  ACREAGE  OF  THE  LANDS  HELD  BY  SUCH  CEMETERY CORPORATIONS. ANY
 PURCHASE, ABANDONMENT, OR DONATION OF REAL PROPERTY TO A CEMETERY CORPO-
 RATION, OR MERGER OF CEMETERY CORPORATIONS,  THAT  HAS  OCCURRED  ON  OR
 BEFORE  JANUARY  FIRST,  TWO  THOUSAND TWENTY, INCLUDING ANY SUCH TRANS-
 ACTION PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED OR APPROVED BY THE CEMETERY BOARD SHALL  BE
 DEEMED  TO  BE  DULY RATIFIED AND SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE ADDITIONAL
 PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION OR ANY FURTHER REVIEW BY THE CEMETERY BOARD.
   § 3. Paragraph (h) of section 1506 of the  not-for-profit  corporation
 law,  as added by chapter 871 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as
 follows:
   (h) Acquisition of property by condemnation.  If  the  certificate  of
 incorporation  or  by-laws  of a cemetery corporation do not exclude any
 person, on equal  terms  with  other  persons,  from  the  privilege  of
 purchasing  a  lot  or  of burial in its cemetery, such corporation may,
 from time to time, acquire by condemnation, exclusively for the purposes
 of a cemetery, not more than two hundred acres of land in the aggregate,
 forming one continuous tract, wholly or  partly  within  the  county  in
 which  its  certificate of incorporation is filed or recorded, except as
 in this section otherwise provided as to the counties of  Erie,  Nassau,
 Suffolk,  Putnam,  Kings,  Queens,  Rockland and Westchester. A cemetery
 corporation may acquire by condemnation, exclusively for the purposes of
 a cemetery, any real property  or  any  interest  therein  necessary  to
 supply water for the uses of such cemetery, and the right to lay, relay,
 repair  and  maintain  conduits  and  water  pipes  with connections and
 fixtures, in, through or over the lands  of  others  and  the  right  to
 intercept  and  divert  the  flow  of  waters from the lands of riparian
 owners, and from persons owning or interested in any waters. But no such
 cemetery corporation shall have power to take or use water from  any  of
 the  canals  of  this  state, or any canal reservoirs as feeders, or any
 streams which have been taken by the state for the purpose of  supplying
 the  canals  with water.   A cemetery corporation may acquire, otherwise
 than by condemnation, real property [as aforesaid] AS OUTLINED  IN  THIS
 ARTICLE FOR BURIAL PURPOSES and additional real property[, not exceeding
 in  value two hundred thousand dollars,] for the purposes of the conven-
 ient transactions of its business[, no portion of which  shall  be  used
 for the purposes of a cemetery].
   §  4.  The  not-for-profit  corporation law is amended by adding a new
 section 1506-d to read as follows:
 § 1506-D. CEMETERY MERGER AUTHORIZATION.
   (A) UPON APPLICATION AND APPROVAL BY THE CEMETERY BOARD AND IN COMPLI-
 ANCE WITH THIS ARTICLE AND ARTICLE NINE  OF  THIS  CHAPTER,  A  CEMETERY
 CORPORATION  ORGANIZED PURSUANT TO THIS CHAPTER OR BY GENERAL OR SPECIAL
 LAW OR BY SPECIAL ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE MAY  MERGE  WITH  ONE  OR  MORE
 OTHER  CEMETERY  CORPORATIONS  LOCATED WITHIN A FIFTY MILE RADIUS OF THE
 PRINCIPAL PLACE OF  BUSINESS  OF  THE  SURVIVING  CEMETERY  CORPORATION.
 NOTHING  IN  THIS  SECTION SHALL REQUIRE, AS A CONDITION OF ANY CEMETERY
 MERGER, THAT THE CEMETERY PROPERTY INVOLVED IN SUCH TRANSACTION BE ADJA-
 CENT OR CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY OR BE LIMITED TO A CERTAIN MAXIMUM NUMBER OF
 TOTAL ACRES SO LONG AS THE MERGING CEMETERY CORPORATIONS DEMONSTRATE  TO
 THE  CEMETERY  BOARD THAT THE RESULTING MERGED CEMETERY CORPORATION WILL

 S. 7155                             3
 
 HAVE SUFFICIENT ASSETS TO MAINTAIN ITS CEMETERY  PROPERTIES  AND  MANAGE
 ITS OPERATIONS.
   (B) UPON APPLICATION AND APPROVAL BY THE CEMETERY BOARD AND IN COMPLI-
 ANCE  WITH  THIS  ARTICLE  AND  ARTICLE NINE OF THIS CHAPTER, A CEMETERY
 CORPORATION ORGANIZED PURSUANT TO THIS CHAPTER OR BY GENERAL OR  SPECIAL
 LAW  OR  BY SPECIAL ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE, WHICH HAD, AT THE END OF THE
 PRECEDING FINANCIAL REPORTING YEAR, TEN MILLION DOLLARS OR MORE IN TOTAL
 FINANCIAL ASSETS, INCLUDING ALL  GENERAL  FUNDS,  PERMANENT  MAINTENANCE
 FUNDS, PERPETUAL CARE FUNDS, SPECIAL TRUST FUNDS AND OTHER RESTRICTED OR
 UNRESTRICTED  FUNDS  UNDER  THE  CONTROL  OF  THE  CEMETERY CORPORATION,
 REGARDLESS OF THE FORM IN WHICH THEY ARE HELD, MAY  MERGE  WITH  ONE  OR
 MORE CEMETERY CORPORATIONS LOCATED GREATER THAN A FIFTY MILE RADIUS FROM
 THE PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS OF THE SURVIVING CEMETERY CORPORATION TO
 CREATE  A  SINGLE ENTITY WITH MULTIPLE CEMETERY LOCATIONS, REGARDLESS OF
 THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTANCE BETWEEN  ITS  CEMETERY  LOCATIONS  OR  FROM  THE
 SURVIVING CEMETERY CORPORATION'S PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS, SO LONG AS
 THE  SURVIVING  CEMETERY CORPORATION PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING TO THE CEME-
 TERY BOARD: (1) AN OUTLINE OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT  CONTROLS  THAT  HAVE
 BEEN  OR WILL BE IMPLEMENTED TO ACCOMMODATE MULTIPLE CEMETERIES OPERATED
 AT LOCATIONS GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTANT FROM THE SURVIVING CEMETERY; (2)  AN
 OUTLINE OF THE TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSETS OF EACH CEMETERY CORPORATION TO BE
 MERGED  DEMONSTRATING  THAT  THE SURVIVING CEMETERY WILL HAVE SUFFICIENT
 FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO OPERATE THE MERGED  CEMETERIES;  (3)  INFORMATION
 REGARDING  THE  LOCATION  OF  ALL  CORPORATE AND CEMETERY RECORDS OF THE
 MERGED CEMETERIES, AS WELL AS  PROCEDURES  FOR  REMOTE  ACCESS  TO  SUCH
 RECORDS  BY  ALL  LOT  OWNERS  OF  THE MERGED CEMETERIES; (4) A PLAN FOR
 PROVIDING REMOTE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS SERVICES TO THE MERGED CEME-
 TERIES, INCLUDING THOSE THAT ARE  GEOGRAPHICALLY  DISTANT;  (5)  CONTACT
 INFORMATION, TO BE POSTED AT THE ENTRANCE TO EACH MERGED CEMETERY AND ON
 ANY  WEBSITE  MAINTAINED  BY THE SURVIVING CEMETERY, LISTING THE CONTACT
 INFORMATION FOR THE SURVIVING CEMETERY; (6)  PROCEDURES  FOR  CONDUCTING
 LOT  OWNERS'  MEETINGS  FOR REMOTE MERGED CEMETERIES; AND (7) PROCEDURES
 FOR PROVIDING NOTICE TO LOT OWNERS  OF  ALL  MERGED  CEMETERIES  OF  THE
 PLACE,  DATE  AND  HOUR OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SURVIVING CEMETERY,
 WHICH NOTICE SHALL BE PUBLISHED IN A NEWSPAPER LOCATED IN EACH COUNTY IN
 WHICH ANY MERGED CEMETERY IS PHYSICALLY LOCATED,  SHALL  BE  PROMINENTLY
 POSTED ON THE HOMEPAGE OF ANY WEB SITE MAINTAINED BY THE SURVIVING CEME-
 TERY,  AND  SHALL OTHERWISE COMPLY WITH SECTION SIX HUNDRED FIVE OF THIS
 CHAPTER.
   (C) PURSUANT TO SECTION FIFTEEN HUNDRED FIVE-A  OF  THIS  ARTICLE  THE
 SURVIVING  CEMETERY  CORPORATION SHALL, IF NECESSARY, WITHIN NINETY DAYS
 AFTER THE CONSUMMATION OF ANY  MERGER  UNDER  THIS  SECTION,  AMEND  ITS
 CERTIFICATE  OF  INCORPORATION  TO  LIST EACH CITY, VILLAGE OR TOWN, AND
 COUNTY WHERE ANY PART OF THE SURVIVING CEMETERY IS OR IS PROPOSED TO  BE
 SITUATED,  AND SHALL FILE SUCH AMENDED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION WITH
 THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK OF EACH APPLICABLE COUNTY.
   (D) NOTHING IN THIS SECTION SHALL PROHIBIT A CEMETERY CORPORATION FROM
 MERGING WITH A CREMATORY OPERATION, REGARDLESS OF THE  LOCATION  OF  THE
 OPERATION  OF  SUCH CEMETERY CORPORATION.  ANY PURCHASE, ABANDONMENT, OR
 DONATION OF REAL PROPERTY TO A CEMETERY CORPORATION, OR MERGER OF  CEME-
 TERY  CORPORATIONS,  THAT  HAS  OCCURRED ON OR BEFORE JANUARY FIRST, TWO
 THOUSAND TWENTY, INCLUDING ANY SUCH TRANSACTION PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED OR
 APPROVED BY THE CEMETERY BOARD SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE DULY  RATIFIED  AND
 SHALL  NOT  BE  SUBJECT  TO THE ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS OF SECTION FIFTEEN
 HUNDRED SIX OF THIS ARTICLE OR ANY FURTHER REVIEW BY THE CEMETERY BOARD.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.