HB10 Alabama 2013 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

K.L. Brown

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2013

Title

Funeral or cemetery services, preneed funeral service contracts, regulation further provided for, Secs. 27-17A-5, 27-17A-11.1 added; Secs. 27-17A-2, 27-17A-3, 27-17A-10, 27-17A-11, 27-17A-12, 27-17A-13, 27-17A-14, 27-17A-16, 27-17A-18, 27-17A-22, 27-17A-23, 27-17A-25, 27-17A-30, 27-17A-31, 27-17A-32, 27-17A-33, 27-17A-34, 27-17A-47, 27-17A-50, 27-17A-55 am'd

Description

This bill would provide further for the definition of a preneed contract and would clarify that a preneed contract is not an insurance contract.

This bill would clarify and require any person selling funeral or cemetery services on a preneed basis to obtain a certificate of authority from the Department of Insurance.

This bill would revise the annual application and renewal dates for persons holding preneed certificates of authority and would waive the requirement of filing annual financial statements under certain circumstances and upon written request to the commissioner.

This bill would require each certificate holder to file with the commissioner a quarterly report of all preneed contract activity.

This bill would clarify the amount of a bond used as an alternative to a trusting requirement.

This bill would give the commissioner jurisdiction over any person lawfully writing, or suspected of unlawfully writing, preneed contracts and would clarify the penalties for violations.

This bill would authorize the commissioner to use funds received from any source for purposes of enforcement.

This bill would clarify that funds received for funeral and cemetery merchandise placed in storage prior to death need not be placed in trust.

This bill would require certificate holders to satisfy additional requirements and file with the commissioner a quarterly report of all preneed contract trust activity in lieu of filing financial statements with the renewal application.

This bill would subject cemetery authorities to the act.

This bill would require any person receiving funds from the sale of a preneed contract to contribute to a trust fund, life insurance contract, or annuity contract.

This bill would require any payments received on a preneed contract written after April 30, 2002, to be deposited into an approved trust.

This bill would require that preneed cemetery merchandise and services funds remain in trust until cancellation or fulfillment and would provide for the refund of monies upon the cancellation of a preneed contract.

This bill would prohibit a person serving on a board of trustees from also serving as the trustee of an endowment care fund, with certain specified exceptions, and would require bonds of trustees, with certain specified exceptions.

This bill would define net income for purposes of an endowment care fund.

Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose.

The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment.

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Subjects

Funeral Services