Abandoned cemeteries: report.

All fees under the Cemetery and Funeral Act are increased by 150 percent. Examples: certificate of authority application fee rises from $750 to $1,875; funeral director license application from $380 to $950; cemetery manager exam from $800 to $2,000; annual regulatory charge per cemetery from $750 to $1,875; per-burial quarterly charge from $11.50 to $28.75.

Creates the Abandonment Grant Funding Program, funded by 50 percent of moneys from the increased fees starting January 1, 2026. The bureau administers the program and has discretion over disbursement to ensure long-term viability of abandoned endowment care cemeteries.

The bill now makes an appropriation (changed from 'no' to 'yes') because additional moneys are deposited into the continuously appropriated Cemetery and Funeral Fund, and the fund's purposes are expanded to include the Abandonment Grant Funding Program.

Adds a detailed process for forming or reorganizing public cemetery districts to maintain six specifically named abandoned cemeteries (Lincoln Memorial Park, Dambacher Mountain Memorial, Verdugo Hills, Chapel of the Light, Evergreen, and Mount Tamalpais) and any that become abandoned after January 1, 2026. Cities and counties must submit a LAFCO application within 120 days of notice; the bureau covers all LAFCO process costs; LAFCO must decide within one year.

The bill's scope expanded from amending only the Health and Safety Code to also amending ten sections of the Business and Professions Code (7612.6, 7653, 7712.5, 7729, 7729.11, 7730.3, 7730.8, 7730.10, 7730.11, and 7731.4), covering reporting, licensing fees, regulatory charges, and fund purposes.

Allows a licensed private entity (corporation, LLC, or individual) to acquire title to an abandoned endowment care cemetery. The private entity gains access to the endowment fund and may receive Abandonment Grant Funding Program money for maintenance, burial services, security, repairs, deferred maintenance, or vandalism remediation.

Annual cemetery reports must now include a map of the deceased and their location by parcel, which the bureau must submit to the applicable county recorder. The annual audit report must include the cemetery's fourth quarter bank statement, provided electronically and directly by the financial institution to the bureau.

Provides that a public cemetery district or private entity acquiring an abandoned cemetery is not responsible for actions of the vacated owner, including mismanagement of the endowment fund or cemetery. A savings clause preserves existing contracts in effect as of January 1, 2026.

Vote requirement changed from majority to two-thirds. Added legislative findings declaring a special statute necessary for the six named cemeteries due to unique circumstances. Added specific mandate reimbursement language stating no reimbursement is required for crime-related mandates under Government Code Section 17556.

The document format changed from a plain-text/PDF extraction (with page numbers, authentication headers, and line breaks) to the HTML web page rendering on the California Legislature website, which adds navigation menus, bill metadata (vote type, appropriation status, fiscal committee designation), version history links, and other site elements. No changes to the actual statutory language.

All fee increases of 150% across cemetery and funeral industry licenses, reports, and regulatory charges were removed. This included fees for funeral director licenses, embalmer licenses, crematory licenses, cemetery manager licenses, annual regulatory charges per cemetery, and per-burial/hydrolysis charges.

The entire new Chapter 6 (Sections 8800-8806) of the Health and Safety Code was removed. This chapter established definitions for abandoned endowment care cemeteries, required the bureau to notify local governments about six specifically named abandoned cemeteries, mandated a LAFCO process to form or reorganize public cemetery districts, created an Abandonment Grant Funding Program funded by 50% of increased fees, and provided access to endowment funds for new operators.

The workgroup's discussion scope was narrowed from general 'options for ensuring continued care, maintenance, and embellishment of abandoned cemeteries' to specifically discussing 'the possibility of requiring counties to assume responsibility for maintenance, irrigation, public works, and burial services for cemeteries located within their boundaries that become abandoned.'

Enhanced annual reporting requirements were removed, including the requirement for a map of deceased and their location by parcel submitted to county recorders, and the requirement that fourth quarter bank statements be provided electronically and directly to the bureau by the cemetery's financial institution.

State mandate reimbursement provisions and legislative findings declaring a special statute necessary for six specific cemeteries were removed.

The workgroup deadline was moved from July 1, 2027 to March 1, 2026, the report deadline from January 1, 2028 to June 1, 2026, and the sunset date from January 1, 2029 to January 1, 2027, making the study process significantly faster.

The bill was converted from enrolled format to chaptered law format: added 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' header, assigned Chapter 658, and recorded the governor's approval date of October 11, 2025.

Removed blank fields for the governor's receipt date/time and the private secretary signature line, which are no longer needed once the bill is signed into law.

Responsibility for abandoned endowment care cemeteries is no longer automatically assigned to the county. Instead, the county's local agency formation commission must identify a specific local agency to take over care, maintenance, and embellishment within 6 months of notification from the bureau.

Fee title now vests in the local agency identified by the commission rather than automatically in the county. The county still initially records the title, but it transfers to the identified local agency upon completion of proceedings.

New process: the bureau must notify the local agency formation commission; the commission must commence proceedings within 30 days of notification and complete them (identifying the receiving local agency) within 6 months of receiving the notification.

The use restriction on cemetery property was broadened from 'shall only use the property for cemetery purposes' to 'shall only use the property for uses consistent with cemetery purposes,' allowing slightly more flexibility in how the property may be used.

The special fund for liquidated endowment care assets is clarified as being within the county treasury, but spending is restricted to the specific cemetery acquired by the local agency under this chapter and for which the endowment care funds were maintained.

The digest now explicitly states that by imposing additional duties on local agencies, the bill imposes a state-mandated local program, triggering potential state reimbursement obligations under the California Constitution.