Section 1501.     Declaration of policy.
        1502.     Definitions.
        1503.     Application.
        1504.     Cemetery board and general administration.
        1505.     Special requirements of incorporation.
        1506.     Cemetery lands.
        1506-a.   Cemetery corporations; restrictions.
        1506-b.   Transfer of lands of Valley View Rural Cemetery.
        1507.     Trust funds.
        1507-a.   State cemetery board citizens advisory council.
        1508.     Reports by cemeteries.
        1509.     Cemetery  rules  and  regulations; charges and lot tax
                    assessments.
        1510.     Cemetery duties.
        1510-a.   Repair or removal of monuments.
        1511.     Cemetery indebtedness.
        1512.     Rights of lot owners.
        1513.     Sale of burial rights.
        1513-a.   Reacquisition of a lot, plot  or  part  thereof  by  a
                    cemetery corporation.
        1514.     Misdemeanor; general penalty.
        1515.     Actions affecting cemetery corporations.
        1516.     Sale of monuments.

S 1501. Declaration of policy.
  The people of this state have a vital interest in the establishment,
maintenance and preservation of public burial grounds and the proper
operation of the corporations which own and manage the same.  This
article is determined an exercise of the police powers of this state to
protect the well-being of our citizens, to promote the public welfare
and to prevent cemeteries from falling into disrepair and dilapidation
and becoming a burden upon the community, and in furtherance of the
public policy of this state that cemeteries shall be conducted on a
non-profit basis for the mutual benefit of plot owners therein.

S 1502. Definitions.  As used in this article:
  (a)  The term "cemetery corporation" means any corporation formed
under a general or special law for the disposal or burial of deceased
human beings, by cremation or in a grave, mausoleum, vault, columbarium
or other receptacle but does not include a family cemetery corporation
or a private cemetery corporation.
  (b)  The term "lot owner" or "owner of a lot" means any person having
a lawful title to the use of a niche, crypt, lot, plot or part thereof,
in a cemetery, mausoleum or columbarium.
  (c)  The term "cemetery board" means the cemetery board in the
division of cemeteries in the department of state.
  (d)  A public mausoleum, crematory or columbarium shall be included
within the term "cemetery".
  (e)  The sale of a lot, plot or part thereof, grave, niche or crypt
shall mean the sale of the right of use thereof for burial purposes.
  (f) The term "monuments" means a memorial erected in a cemetery on a
lot, plot or part thereof, except private mausoleums.
  (g) The term "interment" means the permanent disposition of human
remains by inurnment, entombment or ground burial.

S 1503. Application.
  Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c) of section fifteen
hundred seven and subdivision (m) of section fifteen hundred ten this
article does not apply to (1) a religious corporation, (2) a municipal
corporation, (3) a cemetery corporation owning a cemetery operated,
supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious
corporation or (4) a cemetery belonging to a religious or a municipal
corporation, or operated, supervised or controlled by or in connection
with a religious corporation unless any officer, member or employee of
any such corporation shall receive or may be lawfully entitled to
receive any pecuniary profit from the operations thereof, other than
reasonable compensation for services in effecting one or more of the
purposes of such corporation or as proper beneficiaries of its strictly
charitable purposes or unless the organization of any such corporation
for any of its avowed purposes be a guise or pretense for directly or
indirectly making any other pecuniary profit for such corporation, or
for any of its officers, members or employees, and unless any such
corporation is not, in good faith, organized or conducted exclusively
for one or more of its stated purposes.

S 1504. Cemetery board and general administration.
  (a)  A cemetery board is hereby created within the division of
cemeteries in the department of state, subject to the following
requirements:  (1)  The members of such board shall be the secretary of
state, the attorney general and the commissioner of health, who shall
serve without additional compensation.  (2)  The secretary of state,
attorney general and commissioner of health may each, by official order
filed in the office of his respective department and in the office of
the board, designate a deputy or other representative in his department
to perform any or all of the duties under this section of the department
head making such designation, as may be provided in such order.  Such
designation shall be deemed temporary only and shall not affect the
civil service or retirement rights of any person so designated.  Such
designees shall serve without additional compensation.  (3)  The
secretary of state shall be chairman of such board, provided that in his
absence at any meeting of the board the attorney general or the
commissioner of health, in such order, if either or both be present,
shall act as chairman.  When designees of such officers, in the absence
of all such officers, are present at any meeting of the board, the
designee of the secretary of state, if present, and in his absence one
of the other designees present, in the same order of preference as
provided for the officer appointing him, shall act as chairman.  (4)
Technical, legal or other services shall be performed in so far as
practicable by personnel of the departments of state, law and health
without additional compensation but the board may employ and compensate
within appropriations available therefor such assistants and employees
as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section and may
prescribe their powers and duties.  (5)  Two members of the board shall
constitute a quorum to transact the business of the board at both
regular and special meetings.  (6) The board shall meet at least once a
month, shall keep a record of all its proceedings and shall determine
the rules of its own proceedings.  (7)  Special meetings may be called
by the chairman upon his initiative, and must be called by him upon
receipt of a written request therefor signed by another member of the
board.  Written notice of the time and place of such special meeting
shall be delivered to the office of each member of the board.  (8)  The
board shall have the duty of administering the provisions of this
chapter which deal with cemetery corporations other than the cemeteries
and cemetery corporations enumerated in section fifteen hundred three
and shall have all the powers herein provided and such other powers and
duties as may be otherwise prescribed by law.
  (b)  Director of the division of cemeteries.  The cemetery board shall
appoint a director of the division of cemeteries who shall hold his
office for a term of six years.  He shall receive an annual salary to be
fixed by the board within the appropriations available to the board.
Subject to the supervision, direction and control of the board, the
director of the division of cemeteries shall be responsible for the
administration of this article and he shall exercise and perform such
duties and functions of the board as it may assign or delegate to him
from time to time.
  (c)  Powers and duties of the cemetery board.  With respect to any
cemetery or cemetery corporation, the cemetery board shall have the
following duties and powers:  (1)  To adopt such reasonable rules and
regulations as the cemetery board shall deem necessary for the proper
administration of this article.  (2) To order any cemetery corporation
to do such acts as may be necessary to comply with the provisions of
this article or any rule or regulation adopted by the cemetery board or
to refrain from doing any act in violation thereof.  (2-a)  To adopt
reasonable rules and regulations to exempt those cemetery corporations
from the provisions of paragraph (h) of section fifteen hundred ten of
this chapter which because of a limited number of paid employees or
appropriate resources are unable to carry out such provisions. (2-b) To
adopt reasonable rules and regulations to extend the time period
mandated by the provisions of paragraph (h) of section fifteen hundred
ten of this chapter when necessary because compliance by a cemetery
corporation within such time period is impossible. (3) To enforce its
orders by mandamus or injunction in a summary proceeding or otherwise.
In connection with such action or proceeding, the attorney general is
authorized to take proof, issue subpoenas and administer oaths in the
manner provided in the civil practice law and rules. (4) To impose a
civil penalty upon a cemetery corporation not exceeding one thousand
dollars, after conducting an adjudicatory hearing pursuant to the
provisions of the state administrative procedure act, for a violation of
or a failure to comply with any provisions contained in this article or
any regulation, directive or order of the board, and without the need to
maintain a civil action pursuant to subdivision five of this paragraph.
(5) To maintain a civil action in the name of the people of the state to
recover a judgment for a money penalty imposed under the provisions of
this article.
  (d)  Judicial review.  Any order or determination of the cemetery
board made pursuant to this article shall be subject to review by the
supreme court in the manner provided by article seventy-eight of the
civil practice law and rules; provided, however, that an application for
review of such order or determination must be made within one hundred
twenty days from the date of the filing of such order or determination,
and provided further that no stay shall be granted pending the
determination of the matter except on notice to the cemetery board and
for a period not exceeding thirty days. Proceedings to review such order
shall be entitled to a preference.

S 1505. Special requirements of incorporation.
  (a)  Certificate of incorporation; additional contents.  In addition
to the requirements of section four hundred two (Certificate of
incorporation; contents), the certificate of incorporation of a cemetery
corporation shall be filed in the office of the clerk of each county in
which any part of the cemetery is proposed to be, or is, situated, and
shall state:  (1)  each city, village or town, and county, in which any
part of the cemetery is or is proposed to be situated; and (2)  the time
of the annual meeting.
  (b)  Cemetery board endorsement.  Every certificate of incorporation
of a cemetery corporation, except those within the exclusionary
provisions of section fifteen hundred three, shall have endorsed thereon
or annexed thereto the approval of the cemetery board as required in
subdivision (e) of section four hundred four of this chapter.
  (c)  Type of corporation.  A cemetery corporation is a Type B
corporation under this chapter.
  (d)  Lot owners in unincorporated cemeteries may incorporate.  (1) Not
less than three owners of lots in an unincorporated cemetery may cause a
notice to be posted in at least six conspicuous places in the city, town
or village in which such cemetery is located, and to be published once
in each week for three successive weeks in a newspaper, if any,
published in such municipality, stating that at a time and place
specified, a meeting of the lot owners will be held to determine whether
such cemetery shall be incorporated, pursuant to this chapter.  (2)  The
meeting shall be held at a convenient place in the city, town or village
in which the cemetery is located, not less that twenty-five nor more
than thirty days after the first posting and publication of the notice
of the meeting.  At such meeting every lot owner shall be entitled to
one vote in person or by proxy for each lot owned by him.  The persons
entitled to vote at such meeting shall select a chairman and secretary,
and determine by ballot whether or not the lot owners shall incorporate
pursuant to this chapter.  (3)  If a majority of the ballots are in
favor of incorporation, the persons entitled to vote at such meeting
shall select three lot owners to incorporate and the provisions of this
chapter shall be applicable, except that three persons may incorporate,
and the corporation shall not be required to have more than three
directors.  Upon such incorporation, the lot owners shall be members of
the corporation, and it shall be vested with the title to such cemetery
and the personal property appertaining thereto.  If the title to the
cemetery has prior to such incorporation vested in the town, pursuant to
section two hundred and ninety-one of the town law of section one of
title seven of chapter eleven of part one of the revised statute, the
supervisor of such town shall on request of the directors of such
corporation, execute to it a deed of such cemetery lands releasing all
interest of the town therein, and thereafter the title shall be vested
in the corporation.

S 1506. Cemetery lands.
  (a)  Purchase of land; notice to board and court approval.  No
cemetery corporation, in purchasing real property hereafter, shall pay
or agree to pay more than the fair and reasonable market value thereof.
The terms of the purchase, including the price to be paid and the method
of payment, shall be subject, upon notice to the cemetery board, to
approval by the supreme court in a district where any portion of the
land is located.  In determining the fair and reasonable market value,
the court may take into consideration the method by which the purchase
price is to be paid.
  (b)  Consent of local authorities.  (1)  No cemetery shall hereafter
be located in any city or village without the consent of the local
legislative body of such city, or the board of trustees of such village.
(2)  No cemetery shall hereafter be located in any town, outside of an
incorporated village in Suffolk county, without the consent of the town
board of such town.
  (c)  Cemeteries in Kings, Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau,
Suffolk, Putnam and Erie counties.  A cemetery corporation shall not
take by deed, devise or otherwise any land in the counties of Kings,
Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam or Erie for
cemetery purposes, or set apart any ground therefor in any of such
counties, unless the consent of the board of supervisors or legislative
body thereof, or of the city council of the city of New York, in respect
to Kings or Queens county, be first obtained.  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 corporation 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.  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 heretofore 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.
  (d)  Limitation on the acquisition of land by rural cemetery
corporations.  It shall not be lawful for any rural cemetery corporation
hereafter to acquire or take by deed, devise or otherwise, any land in
any county within the state of New York, having a population of between
one hundred and seventy-five thousand and two hundred thousand,
according to the federal census of nineteen hundred, or set apart any
ground for cemetery purposes therein, where there has already been set
apart in any such county, five hundred acres of land for rural cemetery
purposes, and the consent of the board of supervisors of any such county
shall not be granted where there has already been granted five hundred
acres of land, or upwards, within such county, to rural cemetery
corporations.  But nothing herein contained shall affect any lawful
consent or grant hitherto made by the board of supervisors of any such
county.
  (e)  Limitations on the acquisition of land for cemetery purposes in
certain counties.  (1)  It shall not be lawful for any corporation,
association or person hereafter to set aside or use for cemetery
purposes any lands in any county within the state erected on and after
January first, eighteen hundred ninety, adjoining a city of the first
class and having a population of between eighty thousand and eighty-five
thousand according to the federal census of nineteen hundred ten; but
nothing herein contained shall prevent cemetery corporations formed
prior to January first, nineteen hundred seventeen, which own in such
county a cemetery in which burials have been made prior to such date,
from setting apart and using for burial purposes lands lying contiguous
or adjacent to such cemetery which lands have been heretofore acquired
by a recorded deed of conveyance made to such a cemetery corporation
either for burial purposes, or for the purposes of the convenient
transaction of its general business, which lands shall have been
acquired with the consent of the board of supervisors; nor to prohibit
the dedication or use of land within such county for a family cemetery
as provided in subdivision (c) of section fourteen hundred one of this
chapter.
  (2)  The provisions of this subdivision shall not operate to prevent
any such cemetery corporation located in Nassau county from using for
burial purposes contiguous or adjacent land acquired by it prior to
January first, nineteen hundred forty-eight provided that such
acquisition shall have consisted of less than five acres, and provided
further that such use shall be consented to by the board of supervisors.
  (f)  Conveyance by religious corporations or by trustees.  A cemetery
corporation may accept a conveyance of real property held by a religious
corporation for burial purposes, or by trustees for such purposes if all
such trustees living and residing in this state unite in the conveyance,
subject to all trusts, restrictions and conditions upon the title or
use.  Lots previously sold and grants for burial purposes shall not be
affected by any such conveyance; nor shall any grave, monument or other
erection, or any remains, be disturbed or removed without the consent of
the lot owner, or if there be no such owner, without the consent of the
heirs of the persons whose remains are buried in such grave.
  (g)  Certain conveyances to cemetery corporations authorized.  Upon
approval of the cemetery board first having been obtained, a cemetery
corporation which maintains and operates a cemetery may accept a
conveyance of title to the fee of or to burial rights in lands within
the confines of said cemetery and it shall be lawful for any cemetery or
business corporation to make such conveyances.  Lots previously sold and
grants previously made for burial purposes shall not be affected by such
conveyance.  The cemetery corporation, in consideration of the
conveyance to it of burial rights in lands within the confines of said
cemetery, may, with the approval of the cemetery board, issue
participating certificates of the kind and nature provided for in
paragraph three of subdivision (e) of section fifteen hundred eleven of
this article.  In making its determination the cemetery board shall
consider and may condition its approval on the purposes of this section.
  (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 and additional real
property, not exceeding in value two hundred thousand dollars, for the
purposes of the convenient transactions of its business, no portion of
which shall be used for the purposes of a cemetery.
  (i) Sale or disposition of cemetery lands. (1) No cemetery corporation
may sell or dispose of the fee of all or any part of its lands dedicated
to cemetery use, unless it shall prove to the satisfaction of the
supreme court in the district where any portion of the cemetery lands is
located, either: (A) that all bodies have been removed from each and
every part of the cemetery, that all the lots in the entire cemetery
have been reconveyed to the corporation and are not used for burial
purposes, and that it has no debts and liabilities, or (B) that the land
to be sold or disposed of is not used or is not physically adaptable for
burial purposes and that the sale or disposition will benefit the
cemetery corporation and the owners of plots and graves in the cemetery,
and (C) that the sale or disposition is not to a funeral entity as
defined in paragraph (c) of section fifteen hundred six-a of this
article. (2) If the sale or disposition is made pursuant to subparagraph
(A) of subdivision one of this paragraph, the cemetery shall satisfy the
court that it is in the public interest to dispose of such cemetery land
in the manner proposed; that the subject land is not suitable for
cemetery purposes or is no longer needed by the community for such
cemetery uses or purposes; and that the subject land is being sold for
its current market value. (3) If the sale or disposition of the land is
made pursuant to subparagraph (B) of subdivision one of this paragraph,
the court shall order that the consideration received by the cemetery
corporation, less the necessary expenses incurred, shall be deposited
into the permanent maintenance fund established by the cemetery
corporation pursuant to paragraph (a) of section fifteen hundred seven
of this article. (4) Notice of any application hereunder shall be given
to the cemetery board, to the holders of certificates of indebtedness
and land shares of the cemetery corporation, and to any person
interested in the proceeding pursuant to section five hundred eleven of
this chapter (Petition for leave of court).
  (j)  Conveyance by cemetery corporation to city or village.  A
cemetery corporation may convey and transfer its real property held for
burial purposes, together with its other assets, to a city having a
population of less than one million inhabitants in which such real
property is located, or to a village, provided such real property is
located within such village or wholly within three miles of the
boundaries thereof, or to a town, in which such real property is
located, if all the directors and trustees of such cemetery corporation
living and residing in the state of New York unite in the conveyance and
transfer. Such conveyance and transfer shall be subject to all
agreements as to lots sold and all trusts, restrictions and conditions
upon the title or use of such real property and assets.  Lots previously
sold and grants previously made for burial purposes shall not be
affected by such conveyance, nor shall any grave, monument or other
erection be disturbed or removed except in accordance with law.  No such
conveyance shall be effective unless and until the legislative body of
such city, town or village shall by ordinance or resolution accept the
same subject to the conditions and restrictions hereinabove imposed,
which ordinance or resolution said legislative body is hereby authorized
and empowered to adopt by a majority vote of such body.  Upon such
conveyance and transfer such property shall be and become a municipal
cemetery of such city, town or village and such property and assets so
conveyed and transferred shall be administered as any other municipal
cemetery of such city, town or village and the said cemetery corporation
shall be dissolved by the recording of such conveyance and transfer.
  (k)  Streets or highways not to be laid out through certain cemetery
lands. So long as the lands of a rural cemetery corporation organized
under the act entitled "An act authorizing the incorporation of rural
cemetery associations," constituting chapter one hundred thirty-three of
the laws of eighteen hundred forty-seven, and the acts amendatory
thereof, shall remain dedicated to the purpose of a cemetery, no street,
road, avenue or public thoroughfare shall be laid out through such
cemetery, or any part of the lands held by such association for the
purposes aforesaid, without the consent of the trustees of such
association and the cemetery board.
  (l) Exclusive right of cemetery corporation to provide annual care
services. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary,
it shall be the right of each cemetery corporation, at its option, to
exclusively provide all annual care services to be performed for
consideration on all or any part of its lands at rates to be reviewed by
the cemetery board. In the event that the cemetery board determines that
an excessive, unauthorized or improper charge has been made for such
services or that the services have not been properly performed, he or
she may direct the cemetery corporation to pay to the person from whom
such charge was collected a sum equivalent to three times the excess as
determined by the cemetery board, or in the case of work not properly
performed, it may direct the cemetery corporation to perform the work
properly. Every cemetery corporation that chooses to provide, on an
exclusive basis, such annual care services shall include in any contract
for the sale of any part of its lands the following notice, in at least
ten point bold type:
                                  Notice
  The                    (name of cemetery corporation), pursuant to
state law, provides annual care services on an exclusive basis.
Therefore, the purchaser of the plot or lot being transferred by this
agreement may not contract with any outside party for such annual care
services. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "annual care" shall
mean the maintenance of a lot, plot or part thereof, and may include
care of lawns, trees, shrubs, monuments and markers within the plot. The
provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit a lot
owner from placing, or arranging to place, floral or similar
arrangements on such cemetery lots or plots.

S 1506-a. Cemetery corporations; restrictions.
  (a) No cemetery corporation shall, directly or indirectly:
  (1) sell, or have, enter into or perform a lease of any of its real
property to a funeral entity, or use any of its property for location of
a funeral entity;
  (2) commingle its funds with a funeral entity;
  (3) direct or carry on its business or affairs with a funeral entity;
  (4) authorize control of its business or affairs by a funeral entity;
  (5) engage in any sale or cross-marketing of goods or services with a
funeral entity;
  (6) have or enter into or perform a management or service contract for
cemetery operations with a funeral entity; or
  (7) have, enter into or perform a management contract with any entity
other than a not-for-profit cemetery corporation.
  (b) Only the provisions of subdivisions one and two of paragraph (a)
of this section shall apply to cemetery corporations with thirty acres
or less of real property dedicated to cemetery purposes, and only to the
extent the sale or lease is of real property dedicated to cemetery
purposes, and such cemeteries shall not engage in the sale of funeral
home goods or services, except if such goods and services are otherwise
permitted to be sold by cemeteries, nor shall a majority of the members
of the board of directors or trustees of such cemeteries be made up of
the representatives of a funeral entity.
  (c) For the purposes of this section, "funeral entity" means a person,
partnership, corporation, limited liability company or other form of
business organization providing funeral home services, or owning,
controlling, conducting or affiliated with a funeral home, any
subsidiary thereof or an officer, director or stockholder having a ten
per centum or greater proprietary, beneficial, equitable or credit
interest in a funeral home.

S 1506-b. Transfer of lands of Valley View Rural Cemetery.
  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the board
of trustees of the Valley View Rural Cemetery Association in the town of
Dover Plains, New York, may by resolution of such board, sell, lease or
transfer any portion of the lands of Valley View Rural Cemetery to the
parish of St. Charles Borromeo in the town of Dover Plains, New York,
for cemetery purposes for the adjoining and contiguous cemetery of the
parish of St. Charles Borromeo.

S 1507. Trust funds.
  (a) Maintenance and preservation; permanent maintenance fund; current
maintenance fund. Subject to rules and regulations of the cemetery
board: (1) Every cemetery corporation shall maintain and preserve the
cemetery, including all lots, plots and parts thereof. For the sole
purpose of such maintenance and preservation, every cemetery corporation
shall establish and maintain (A) a permanent maintenance fund, and (B) a
current maintenance fund. At the time of making the sale of a lot, plot
or part thereof, the cemetery corporation shall deposit not less than
ten per centum of the gross proceeds of the sale into the permanent
maintenance fund. An additional fifteen per centum of the gross proceeds
of the sale shall be deposited in the current maintenance fund. In
addition to the foregoing, at the time the cemetery corporation receives
payment for the performance of an interment or inurnment, the cemetery
corporation shall collect and deposit into the permanent maintenance
fund the sum of thirty-five dollars. (2) The permanent maintenance fund
is hereby declared to be and shall be held by the corporation as a trust
fund, for the purpose of maintaining and preserving the cemetery,
including all lots, crypts, niches, plots and parts thereof. The
principal of such fund shall be invested in such securities as are
permitted for the investment of trust funds by sections 11-2.2 and
11-2.3 of the estates, powers and trusts law. The income arising
therefrom shall be used solely for the maintenance and preservation of
the cemetery grounds. The principal of such fund shall remain inviolate,
except that upon application to the supreme court in a district where a
portion of the cemetery grounds is located, the court may make an order
permitting the principal or a part thereof to be used for the purpose of
current maintenance and preservation of the cemetery or otherwise. Such
application may be made by the cemetery board on notice to the
corporation or by the corporation on notice to the cemetery board. (3)
The current maintenance fund shall be used and applied for the sole
purpose of ordinary and necessary expenses of the care and maintenance
of the cemetery. When all burial rights in the cemetery have been
conveyed, the fund remaining on deposit or to the credit of the current
maintenance fund shall be transferred into the permanent maintenance
fund. (4) The percentage of the proceeds of sales required to be
deposited in the permanent maintenance fund or current maintenance fund
by a particular cemetery corporation may be increased or diminished by
order of the supreme court in a district where any portion of the
cemetery is located. Such application may be made by the cemetery board
on notice to the corporation or by the corporation on notice to the
cemetery board.
  (b) Perpetual care of lots. (1) Upon the application of a prospective
purchaser of any lot, plot or part thereof and upon payment of the
purchase price and the amount fixed as a reasonable charge for the
perpetual care of any lot, plot or part thereof, every cemetery
corporation shall include with the deed of conveyance an agreement
perpetually to care for such lot, plot, or part thereof, to the extent
that the income derived by the corporation from such amount will permit.
(2) Such corporation also, upon the application of an owner or of the
executor or administrator of a deceased owner of any lot and upon the
payment of the amount fixed as a reasonable charge for the perpetual
care of such lot, shall, and upon the application of any other person
and the payment of such amount, may enter into a like agreement with
him. Such agreement shall be executed and may be recorded in the same
manner as a deed.  (3) Any corporation organized under or subject to the
provisions of this section may enter into an agreement in writing with
any executor or executors, trustee or trustees, under a last will and
testament to whom there has heretofore been, or may hereafter be,
bequeathed a sum for the perpetual care of any lot, plot or part thereof
in any such cemetery or with any administrator or administrators with
the will annexed under any such will perpetually to care for such lot,
plot or part thereof under the provisions of the terms of such last will
and testament, and subject in all cases to the approval of the
surrogate`s court having jurisdiction over such trust estate. Such
approval may be evidenced by the written endorsement of the surrogate on
a duplicate original of such agreement filed in the surrogate`s court.
In case the surrogate shall approve such agreement any such executor,
trustee or administrator with the will annexed thereupon shall pay over
to the treasurer of such perpetual care fund of such cemetery
corporation any moneys remaining or being in his hands belonging to such
trust, and upon making such payment and accounting therefore to the
surrogate`s court may be discharged from said trust as such executor,
trustee or administrator with the will annexed.
  (c) Perpetual care fund. (1) Every cemetery corporation and every
religious corporation having charge and control of a cemetery which
heretofore has been or which hereafter may be used for burials, shall
keep separate and apart from its other funds, all moneys and property
received by it, whether by contract, in trust or otherwise, for the
perpetual care and maintenance of any lot, plot or part thereof in its
cemetery, and all such moneys or property so received by any such
corporation are hereby declared to be, and shall be held by the
corporation as trust funds. Any moneys and property so received, unless
otherwise provided in the instrument under which such moneys or property
were received, shall be kept in a separate fund to be known as the
perpetual care fund.
  (2) The principal of such funds, whether kept in the perpetual care
fund or otherwise, and unless already so invested when received, shall
be invested within a reasonable time after receipt thereof, and kept
invested, in such securities as are permitted for the investment of
trust funds by sections 11-2.2 and 11-2.3 of the estates, powers and
trusts law. The income arising therefrom shall be used solely for the
perpetual care and maintenance of the lot or plots or parts thereof for
which such income has been provided.
  (3) The corporation may, for the purpose of investing and reinvesting
such funds, add the same to any similar trust fund or funds and
apportion shares or interest to each trust fund, showing upon its
records at all times every share or interest.
  (4) The corporation may accept in trust for the perpetual care of a
lot, plot or part thereof in its cemetery, property not made eligible
for the investment of trust funds under the foregoing provisions of this
subdivision and may retain such property in the form in which received,
separate and apart from the perpetual care fund, if directed so to do by
the instrument under which such property is received, so long as such
property remains in the form in which it was received; but whenever such
property is sold or otherwise disposed of, the proceeds of such sale or
other disposition shall be invested in the manner heretofore provided in
this subdivision for the investment of trust funds. The exchange of
stock or evidences of indebtedness issued by a corporation for stock or
evidences of indebtedness of the same corporation, or for stock,
evidences of indebtedness, warrants or script received as a result of
merger, consolidation or reorganization of such corporation, or the
receipt of additional stock or evidences of indebtedness of such
corporation, as a distribution by such corporation, shall not be deemed
to be a disposition of the property originally received in trust, and
such exchanged or additional property may be retained in place and stead
of the property originally received, and under the same conditions. The
corporation shall keep accurate accounts of all funds for the perpetual
care and maintenance of cemetery lots, plots or parts thereof, separate
and apart from its other funds. A copy of the record pertaining to each
such perpetual care fund shall be at all times available at the office
of the corporation during usual business hours, for inspection and copy
by any owner of an endowed lot or his representative.
  (d) Perpetual care fund; allocation of income and cost of care and
maintenance. On or before the fifteenth day of March in each calendar
year the officers of every cemetery corporation shall fix and determine
that portion of the income on the investment of the principal of the
perpetual care fund during the calendar or fiscal year immediately
preceding, to be apportioned to each separate lot or part thereof for
which a perpetual care agreement has been made. The cost during such
previous calendar or fiscal year of the care of each lot or part thereof
shall be allocated and charged against the income so apportioned to it.
Any excess of the income so apportioned over and above the allocated
cost of the care and maintenance of such lot or part thereof shall be
credited to such lot or part thereof, to be used in any future years to
make up the deficiency if the income apportioned to such lot or part
thereof should, in any year since September first, nineteen hundred
forty-nine, or in any future year, fall, or have fallen, below the cost
of care thereof.
  (e) Designation of fiduciary corporation by directors or trustees of
cemetery corporation to act as custodians of funds. Notwithstanding the
provisions of any other law, the directors or trustees of cemetery
corporations are hereby authorized to designate a bank or trust company
to act as custodian and trustee of any or all of the respective funds of
such cemetery corporation received by it for the perpetual care of lots
in the cemetery thereof pursuant to subdivision (b), of this section,
the permanent maintenance of such cemetery pursuant to subdivision (a)
of this section, and for special purposes pursuant to subdivision (f) of
this section. Such corporate trustee shall be designated by a resolution
duly adopted by the board of directors or trustees and approved by a
justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which the
cemetery of said corporation is located; and the directors or trustees
of such cemetery corporation may, with the approval of the justice of
the supreme court, revoke such trust, and either take over such trust
fund or name another trustee to handle the same, but if not so revoked,
such trust shall be perpetual. Any bank or trust company accepting any
such cemetery fund shall keep the same separate from all other funds,
except that it may, irrespective of any provision contained in this
article invest the same in a legal common trust fund or in shares of a
mutual trust investment company organized under the banking law, and
shall pay over the net income to the directors or trustees of the
cemetery corporation by whom it shall be expended and applied to the
purpose for which such trust fund was paid to the cemetery corporations
and accounted for in accordance with such subdivisions (a), (b) and (f)
of this section.
  (e-1) Monument maintenance fund. (1) A cemetery corporation may,
subject to the approval of the cemetery board, establish and maintain a
monument maintenance fund. Such a fund is hereby declared to be and
shall be held by the cemetery corporation as a trust fund, for the
purpose of providing notice if such monuments are damaged or defaced by
an act of vandalism and for the restoration of such monuments. Two or
more cemetery corporations may establish a joint monument maintenance
fund.
  (2) The principal of the fund shall be invested in securities
permitted for the investment of trust funds by sections 11-2.2 and
11-2.3 of the estates, powers and trusts law. The principal of such fund
shall remain inviolate, except that upon application to the supreme
court in a district where a portion of the cemetery grounds is located,
the court may make an order permitting the principal or a part thereof
to be used for the purpose of restoring monuments damaged or defaced by
an act of vandalism. The income arising from such investment shall be
used solely for the costs and expenses resulting from an act of
vandalism against monuments in such cemetery.
  (3) The fund shall be financed by a charge levied at the time of each
interment at a rate established by each cemetery creating such a fund,
subject to cemetery board approval pursuant to section fifteen hundred
nine of this article. Such a charge shall be levied in addition to the
approved rates for interment. The fund may also accept gifts, donations
and bequests.
  (4) Each cemetery creating such a fund shall promulgate rules and
regulations to administer the fund, subject to cemetery board approval
pursuant to section fifteen hundred nine of this article. Such rules
shall include the conditions under which the income from such fund may
be properly expended.
  (5) The cemetery corporation shall keep accurate accounts of all
moneys for the fund, separate and apart from its other funds.
  (f) Acquisition of property for special purposes and in trust. (1) A
cemetery corporation may acquire, otherwise than by condemnation, real
or personal property, absolutely or in trust, in perpetuity or
otherwise, and shall use the same or the income therefrom in pursuance
of the terms of the instrument by which it was acquired, for the
following purposes only: (i) The improvement or embellishment, but not
the enlargement, of its cemetery; (ii) The construction, preservation or
replacement of any building, structure, fence, wall, or walk therein;
(iii) The erection, renewal or preservation of any tomb, monument,
stone, fence, wall, railing or other erection or structure on or around
its cemetery or any lot or plot therein; (iv) The planting or
cultivation of trees, grass, shrubs, flowers or plants in or about its
cemetery or any lot or plot therein; (v) The construction, operation,
maintenance, repair and replacement of a crematory or columbarium or
both in its cemetery; (vi) The care, keeping in order and embellishment
of any lot, plot or part thereof or the structures thereon, in its
cemetery, as prescribed in the instrument transferring such property to
the cemetery corporation, or by the person or persons from time to time
having possession, care and control of such lot, plot or part thereof,
as the case may be.
  (2) All moneys and property received by a cemetery corporation in
trust under this subdivision, unless otherwise provided in the
instrument under which such moneys or property were received and unless
already so invested when received, shall be invested within a reasonable
time after the receipt thereof, and kept invested in such securities as
are permitted for the investment of trust funds by sections 11-2.2 and
11-2.3 of the estates, powers and trusts law. The corporation may, for
the purpose of investing and reinvesting such funds, add the same to any
similar trust fund or funds and apportion shares or interests to each
trust fund, showing upon its records at all times every share or
interest. The cemetery corporation shall maintain a record for each such
trust fund. Such record shall be at all times available at the office of
the corporation during usual business hours, for inspection and copy by
any owner of an endowed lot or his representative.
  (g) Trust for the care of burial ground. A cemetery corporation,
incorporated under or by a general or special law, may receive tangible
property, securities or funds in trust, and hold and invest the same and
apply the principal or income thereof, in accordance with the terms of
the trust, for the purpose of repairing, maintaining, improving or
embellishing a burial ground, not constituting a part of the cemetery of
such cemetery corporation, and located outside of a city of more than
one million inhabitants and within ten miles of the cemetery of the
corporation accepting such trust. The directors of such corporation, or
a majority of them and the treasurer, shall annually within sixty days
after the close of each calendar or fiscal year, make, sign and shall
file at the office of the corporation a detailed accounting and report
of such trust funds held under this subdivision and the use made of such
funds or of the income thereof for the preceding calendar or fiscal
year, which shall include among other things, properly itemized, the
securities in which the same is then invested, and any purchases, sales
or other changes made therein during the period covered by such report.
Such accounting and report shall be at all times available at the office
of the corporation, during usual business hours, for inspection and copy
by any lot owner or any contributor to such trust fund.
  (h) Vandalism, abandonment and monument repair or removal. (1)
Cemeteries incorporated under this article shall contribute to a fund
created pursuant to section ninety-seven-r of the state finance law for
the maintenance of abandoned cemeteries, including the construction of
cemetery fences, placement of cemetery lights and replacement of
cemetery doors and locks, for the restoration of property damaged by
acts of vandalism, and for the repair or removal of monuments or other
markers not owned by the cemetery corporation that have fallen into
disrepair or dilapidation so as to create a dangerous condition. Such
fund shall be administered by a board of trustees comprised of the
secretary of state, the attorney general and the commissioner of health,
or their designees, who shall serve without additional compensation.
  (2) The fund shall be financed by contributions by the cemetery
corporations of not more than five dollars ($5.00) per interment or
cremation in a manner to be determined by the New York state cemetery
board. No contributions shall be collected upon the interment of the
cremains of a deceased person where a contribution was collected upon
cremations.
  (3) The moneys of the fund shall be expended equally for the
maintenance of abandoned cemeteries previously owned by a corporation
incorporated pursuant to this chapter or the membership corporations law
and the repair of cemetery vandalism damage and the repair or removal of
monuments or other markers not owned by the cemetery corporation,
provided, however, that the cemetery board may determine that
circumstances necessitate an unequal distribution due to specific needs
and may provide for such distribution. For purposes of this section, the
maintenance of abandoned cemeteries may include the construction of
cemetery fences, placement of cemetery lights and replacement of
cemetery doors and locks.
  (4) Authorization for payments by the fund for maintenance of an
abandoned cemetery shall be made by the secretary of state only upon
approval by the cemetery board of an application by a municipality for
fair and reasonable expenses required to be made by the municipality for
maintenance of an abandoned cemetery; provided, however, that the
cemetery board shall not approve any such application unless the
municipality acknowledges that the responsibility for restoration and
future care, preservation and maintenance of such cemetery has been
assumed by the municipality. For the purposes of this paragraph such
cemetery shall always be deemed an abandoned cemetery.
  (5) Authorization for payments by the fund for the repair of vandalism
damage shall be made by the secretary of state only on approval by the
New York state cemetery board which shall determine:
  (i) that an act of vandalism to the extent described by the cemetery
corporation did take place;
  (ii) that either a written report of the vandalism was filed with the
local police or sheriff`s department, or, that the cemetery, upon
consent of the division, made a determination not to file the report
because the publicity generated by filing the report would have adverse
consequences for the cemetery;
  (iii) that the cost of repairs is fair and reasonable; and
  (iv) that the cemetery corporation has been unable to obtain funds
from the lot owner, his spouse, devisees or descendants within a
reasonable period of time nor are there adequate funds in the cemetery
corporations monument maintenance fund, if such a fund has been
established by the cemetery.
  (6) Authorization for payments by the fund for the repair or removal
of monuments or other markers not owned by the cemetery corporation
shall be made by the secretary of state only on approval by the New York
state cemetery board on application by the cemetery corporation showing:
  (i) that the monuments or markers are so badly out of repair or
dilapidated as to create a dangerous condition;
  (ii) that the cost of remedying the condition is fair and reasonable;
  (iii) that the cemetery corporation has given not less than sixty days
notice to the last known owner to repair or remove the monument or other
marker and the said owner has failed to do so within the time prescribed
in said notice.
  (7) The New York state cemetery board shall promulgate rules defining
standards of maintenance, as well as what type of vandalism or out of
repair or dilapidated monuments or other markers shall qualify for
payment of repair or removal by the fund and the method and amount of
payment of contributions described in subparagraph two of this paragraph
upon the recommendation of the state cemetery board citizens advisory
council created by section fifteen hundred seven-a of this article
(State cemetery board citizens advisory council).
  (8) Nothing contained in this paragraph is to be construed as giving a
cemetery corporation an "insurable interest" in monuments or other
embellishments on a plot, lot or part thereof, nor is it meant to imply
that the cemetery corporation has any responsibility for repairing
vandalism damage not covered by this fund, nor for repairing or removing
out of repair or dilapidated monuments or other markers not owned by the
cemetery corporation, nor shall it constitute the doing of an insurance
business.

S 1507-a. State cemetery board citizens advisory council.
  (a) There is hereby created a state cemetery board citizens advisory
council, to study, investigate, monitor and make recommendations with
respect to the maintenance and operation of the state cemetery vandalism
restoration, monument repair or removal and administration fund. Such
advisory council shall study and investigate incidents of cemetery
abandonment, vandalism and desecration, monitor the administration of
such fund and recommend changes to improve the management of and
expenditures from the state cemetery vandalism restoration, monument
repair or removal and administration fund.
  (b) The advisory council shall be composed of a member designated by
the secretary of state, a member designated by the attorney general, a
member designated by the commissioner of health, a member designated by
the comptroller and a member designated by the commissioner of taxation
and finance. The appointees to the advisory council shall not be
employees of the department of state, department of law, department of
health, department of audit and control or department of taxation and
finance.  Each of the members shall serve for a term of two years,
provided, however, that the first appointments by the comptroller and
commissioner of taxation and finance  shall serve for a term of one
year. Vacancies occurring other than by expiration of term shall be
filled in the same manner as the original appointments for the balance
of the unexpired term. Persons designated or appointed to the advisory
council shall have demonstrated a long-standing interest, knowledge and
experience in the care and preservation of gravesites. One member shall
be elected chairman of the advisory council by a majority vote of the
members of such council.
  (c) The members of the advisory council shall receive no compensation
for their services but shall be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred
in the performance of their duties.
  (d) The advisory council shall meet at least quarterly at the call of
the chairman.
  (e) The advisory council may request and shall receive from any
department, division, board, bureau, commission, agency, public
authority of the state or any political subdivision thereof such
assistance and data as will enable it properly to carry out its
activities hereunder and effectuate the purposes set forth herein.

S 1508. Reports by cemeteries.
  (a)  Annual report.  Each cemetery corporation shall, on or before the
fifteenth day of March after the end of its calendar year, or if on a
fiscal year the seventy-fifth day after the close of such year, file
with the cemetery board (1) a statement as to the condition of the
permanent maintenance trust fund and a schedule of the assets of such
fund.  (2) a statement as to the condition of the perpetual care fund
and a schedule of the assets of such fund.  (3) a statement as to the
condition of the moneys and properties received by the cemetery
corporation in trust under the provisions of subdivisions (f) and (g) of
section fifteen hundred seven of this article.  (4) a statement of the
gross proceeds of the sale of plots, lots and parts thereof, graves,
niches and crypts showing the disposition of such proceeds and (5) a
statement of changes in the number and amount of certificates of
indebtedness in accordance with the provisions of paragraph three of
subdivision (a) of section fifteen hundred eleven of this article. (6) a
statement as to the condition of the monument maintenance fund, if any,
and a schedule of the assets of such fund.
  (b)  Additional reports.  The cemetery board may address to any
cemetery corporations or its officers or any person any inquiry in
relation to the transactions or conditions of the cemetery corporation
or any matter connected therewith, and may require that a reply be
verified.  Failure to submit such reply within the time designated by
the cemetery board shall subject the corporation, officer or person so
addressed to the penalties provided in subdivision (d) hereof.
  (c)  Cemetery payment for administration.  To defray the expenses of
examination and administration, each cemetery corporation shall not
later than March fifteenth in each calendar year, pay to the cemetery
board the sum of three dollars per interment in excess of fifteen
interments for the preceding calendar year.
  (d)  Failure to file report.  Any cemetery corporation or individual
failing to file any report or any schedule of rules, regulations and
charges required by this article shall forfeit to the people of the
state the sum of one hundred dollars for each day that each such report
shall be delayed or withheld, except that the cemetery board may extend
the time for filing any such report and may waive payment of any penalty
or part thereof provided herein.

S 1509. Cemetery rules and regulations; charges and lot tax assessments.
  (a)  Rules and regulations.  The directors of a cemetery corporation
shall make reasonable rules and regulations for the use, care,
management and protection of the property of the corporation and of all
lots, plots and parts thereof; for regulating the dividing marks between
the lots, plots and parts thereof; for prohibiting or regulating the
erection of structures upon such lots, plots or parts thereof; for
preventing unsightly monuments, effigies and structures within the
cemetery grounds, and for the removal thereof; for regulating the
introduction and care of plants, trees and shrubs within such grounds;
for the prevention of the burial in a lot, plot or part thereof, of a
body not entitled to burial therein; for regulating or preventing
disinterments; for regulating the conduct of persons while within the
cemetery grounds; for excluding improper persons and preventing improper
assemblages therein.  The directors may prescribe penalties for the
violation of any such rule or regulation, not exceeding twenty-five
dollars for each violation, which shall be recoverable by the
corporation in a civil action.
  (b)  Charges for services.  The directors of a cemetery corporation
shall fix and make reasonable charges for any acts and services ordered
by the owner and rendered by the corporation in connection with the use,
care, including perpetual, annual and special care, management and
protection of lots, plots and parts thereof.  In determining said
charges the directors shall consider the propriety and the fair and
reasonable cost and expense of rendering the services or performing the
work for which such charges are made.
  (c) Cemetery board approval. (1) A cemetery corporation`s rules,
regulations and original charges shall not become effective unless and
until approved by the cemetery board as hereinafter provided. (2)  The
directors of any cemetery corporation, organized on or before August
thirty-first, nineteen hundred forty-nine, shall file in the office of
the cemetery board the name and address of the corporation together with
its rules, regulations and charges, and a statement showing the basis
upon which they were made, within ninety days after the time this
section as hereby amended takes effect.  The directors of any cemetery
corporation organized on or after September first, nineteen hundred
forty-nine, shall file in the office of the cemetery board the name and
address of the corporation together with its rules, regulations and
charges, and a statement showing the basis on which they were made,
within ninety days after the date of the filing of the certificate of
incorporation in the department of state. (3) Within six months after
the date of such filing, the cemetery board shall make and file in its
office an order approving, disapproving or amending such rules,
regulations and original charges in whole or part. Such rules,
regulations and charges, if approved with or without amendment, shall
become effective as approved upon the filing of such order by the
cemetery board in its office. The cemetery board shall notify the
directors of the action taken by it and its reasons therefor by
registered mail addressed to the corporation at its principal office.
In making its determination as to the schedule of charges the cemetery
board shall consider the propriety and the fair and reasonable cost and
expense of rendering the services or performing the work for which such
charges are made.  In passing upon the rules and regulations, the
cemetery board shall consider the interests of the members of the
corporation and the public interest in the proper maintenance and
operation of burial grounds.  (4) The rules, regulations and charges of
any cemetery corporation existing on or before August thirty-first,
nineteen hundred forty-nine, shall remain in effect until the cemetery
board files in its office an order pursuant to the provisions of
subdivision three hereof. A cemetery corporation organized on or after
September first, nineteen hundred forty-nine, may enforce the rules,
regulations and charges filed by it in the office of the cemetery board
until the cemetery board files in its office an order pursuant to the
provisions of subdivision three hereof.
  (d) Services not in list of charges.  In the event that a cemetery
corporation provides any services not included in the list of charges,
and for which a charge cannot reasonably be fixed in advance, the
charges made therefor shall be reviewable by the cemetery board.  In the
event that the cemetery board determines that an excessive, unauthorized
or improper charge has been made for such services or that the services
have not been properly performed, it may direct the cemetery corporation
to pay to the person from whom such charge was collected a sum
equivalent to three times the amount of the excess as determined by the
cemetery board, or in the case of work not properly performed, it may
direct the cemetery corporation to perform the work properly.
  (e) Amendment and modification.  (1) The rules and regulations of a
cemetery corporation may be amended or added to by the corporation by
filing such proposed amendments or additions in the office of the
cemetery board but no such amendment or addition shall be effective
unless and until an order approving such amendments or additions is made
by the cemetery board and filed in its office in the same manner as that
applicable to the original filing of the rules, regulations and charges
of the cemetery corporation.  (2) The charges of a cemetery corporation
may be amended or added to by the corporation by filing an application
containing such proposed amendment or addition in the office of the
division of cemeteries and shall be processed in accordance with
subdivision three of this paragraph. The cemetery board shall consider
the propriety and the fair and reasonable costs and expense of rendering
the services or performing the work for which such charges are made. The
effective rules, regulations or charges of a cemetery corporation may be
amended, modified or vacated by the cemetery board at any time.  The
cemetery board shall notify the directors of the action taken by it and
its reasons therefor by registered or certified mail addressed to the
corporation at its principal office.  In amending, modifying or vacating
any rule, regulation or charge, the cemetery board shall be guided by
the standards set forth in subdivision three of paragraph (c) of this
section.  (3) Any application setting forth the proposed amendment of,
or addition to, the charges of a cemetery corporation as provided for by
subdivision two of this paragraph shall be processed in accordance with
the following schedule:
  A. Within thirty-five days following receipt of the application, the
board or the division may request from the cemetery corporation any
additional information or documentation deemed necessary to complete
such application, and such application shall not be complete for the
purposes of compliance with this subdivision until the requested
information has been received. If no such request is made, the
application shall be deemed to be complete on the thirty-fifth day after
its receipt by the division.
  B. An application setting forth the proposed amendment of, or addition
to, the charges of a cemetery corporation shall be deemed to be approved
for any cemetery corporation holding, including unrestricted funds, cash
and investments totalling less than four hundred thousand dollars, if
the board does not object to the proposed charges within sixty days
following: (i) the date on which the application shall have been deemed
to be complete or (ii) the date on which the requested information
necessary to complete the application shall have been received,

whichever is later. If the board objects to the proposed charges, it
shall notify the directors in writing with the reasons therefor, such
notice to be mailed by registered or certified mail to the corporation
at its principal office, not less than three business days before the
end of such sixty day period. If the board approves such amendment of or
addition to the charges, it shall do so by order.
  C. An application setting forth the proposed amendment of, or addition
to, the charges of a cemetery corporation shall be deemed to be approved
for any cemetery corporation holding, including unrestricted funds, cash
and investments totalling more than four hundred thousand dollars, if
the board does not object to the proposed charges within ninety days
following: (i) the date on which the application shall have been deemed
to be complete or (ii) the date on which the requested information
necessary to complete the application shall have been received,
whichever is later.  If the board objects to the proposed charges, it
shall notify the directors in writing with the reasons therefor, such
notice to be mailed by registered or certified mail to the corporation
at its principal office, not less than three business days before the
end of such ninety day period. If the board approves such amendment of
or addition to the charges, it shall do so by order.
  (f) Lot tax assessment. (1) If the funds of a cemetery corporation
applicable to the improvement and care of its cemetery, or applicable to
the construction of a receiving vault therein for the common use of lot
owners, be insufficient for such purposes, the directors of the
corporation, not oftener than once in any year and for such purposes
only, may, upon the prior approval of the cemetery board, which shall
determine the necessity and propriety thereof, levy a tax on some basis
to be determined by the directors of such corporation, but no such tax
shall exceed two dollars on any one lot, except that with the written
consent of two-thirds of the lot owners or by the vote of a majority of
the lot owners present at an annual meeting, or at a special meeting
duly called for such purpose, such tax may be for an amount which shall
not exceed a total of five dollars per annum per lot, and the tax on any
one lot shall not exceed five dollars per annum but the taxes may be
levied upon each lot in the first instance for a sum sufficient for the
improvement and care of the lot, but no greater sum than five dollars
shall be collected in any one year.  The whole tax levied may be
collected in sums of five dollars in successive years in the manner
herein provided.  (2)  Notice of such tax shall be served on the lot
owners or where two or more persons are owners of the same lot, on one
of them, either personally, or by leaving it at his residence, with a
person of mature age and discretion, or by mail, if he resides in a
city, town or village where the office of the corporation is not
located, or in case the residence or whereabouts of the owner cannot be
ascertained, by publication once a week for four successive weeks in a
newspaper published in the town where such cemetery is located, or if no
newspaper is published in such town then in some newspaper published in
the county where such cemetery is located.  (3) If such tax remain
unpaid for more than thirty days after the service of such notice, the
president and secretary of the corporation may issue a warrant to the
treasurer of the corporation, requiring him to collect such tax in the
same manner as school collectors are required to collect school taxes;
and such treasurer shall have the same power and be subject to the same
liabilities in executing such warrant as a collector of school taxes has
or is subject to by law in executing a warrant for the collection of
school taxes.  (4)  If the taxes so levied remain unpaid for five years
after the levying of such tax the amount thereof with interest shall be
a lien on the unused portion of the lot which is subject to such tax,
and no portion of the lot so taxed shall be used by the owner thereof
for burial purposes, while any such tax remains unpaid.  (5) If at the
expiration of five years from the date of the service of the first
notice of assessment as herein provided, any such assessment or the
interest thereon shall remain unpaid, the corporation may sell the
unused portion of such lot at public auction upon the cemetery grounds,
in the following manner:  If the person owning such lot resides within
the state, a written notice, under the seal of such cemetery
corporation, if it have a seal, and the hand of the president or
secretary thereof, stating the amount of such tax or taxes unpaid and
that such unused portion of such lot will be sold at a time therein to
be specified, not less than twenty days from the date of the service of
such notice, shall be personally served upon such owner; if such owner
is not a resident of the state, or if the place of his residence cannot
with due diligence be ascertained, or if, for any other reason
satisfactory to the court, personal service cannot with due diligence be
made upon such owner, such cemetery corporation, or any of its officers,
may present a duly verified petition stating the facts to the county
court of the county in which such cemetery lands are situated, or to the
supreme court, and such court may upon satisfactory proof, by its order,
direct the service of such notice in the manner provided by the civil
practice law and rules for the substituted service of a summons.  The
president or secretary of such corporation, or any suitable and proper
person appointed by it or by the court, upon filing proof of publication
and service of such notice as provided by section three hundred fourteen
of the surrogate`s court procedure act may make such sale, and such sale
may be adjourned from time to time for the accommodation of the parties
or for other proper reasons.  Previous notice of such sale shall be
posted at the main entrance of the cemetery.  Prior to such sale such
corporation shall cause such lot to be resurveyed and replotted showing
the part thereof not used for burial purposes and only such unused
portion shall be sold.  The cemetery corporation may at any such sale
purchase any such lots or parts of lots.  The surplus remaining after
paying all assessments, interest, cost and charges shall be set aside by
the corporation, as a fund for the care and improvement of the portion
of such lot that has been used for burial purposes.  In case the
proceeds of such sale shall amount to more than thirty dollars the
person making it shall make his report, under oath, to the court, of the
proceedings and shall state the amount for which such lot was sold and
that it was sold to the highest responsible bidder, together with the
names of the purchasers, and the court may and in a proper case shall,
by order, confirm the sale; in all other cases the person making such
sale shall file in the office of the county clerk of the county in which
the cemetery lands are situated a like report duly verified; on the
filing of such order of confirmation or such report, as the case may be,
the ownership of the unoccupied portion of such lot shall vest in the
purchaser thereof.  (6) The directors of any such corporation may make a
contract with a lot owner which shall provide for the payment by him of
an agreed gross sum in lieu of further taxes and assessments and that
upon the payment of such gross sum the lot of such owner shall be
thereafter exempt from taxes and assessments.
  (g) Purchases through office of general services. Notwithstanding the
provisions of any general, special or local law, any officer or agent of
a cemetery corporation subject to the provisions of this article
authorized to make purchases of materials, equipment or supplies may
make such purchases, except of printed material, through the office of
general services subject to such rules as may be established from time
to time pursuant to section one hundred sixty-three of the state finance
law; provided that any such purchase shall exceed five hundred dollars
and that the cemetery corporation for which such officer or agent acts
shall accept sole responsibility for any payment due the vendor. All
purchases shall be subject to audit and inspection by the cemetery
corporation for which made. Two or more cemetery corporations may join
in making purchases pursuant to this section and, for the purposes of
this section, such groups shall be deemed a cemetery corporation.

S 1510. Cemetery duties.
  (a) Posting of rules, regulations, charges and prices. The rules,
regulations, charges, and prices of lots, plots or parts thereof shall
be suitably printed and shall be conspicuously posted by the corporation
in each of its offices. For each day in which the corporation fails to
post the rules, regulations, charges and prices the corporation shall be
subject to a penalty of twenty-five dollars which may be recovered in a
civil action by the cemetery board. The cemetery board may waive the
payment of the penalty or any part thereof.
  (b) Surveys and maps of cemetery. (1) Every cemetery corporation, from
time to time, as land in its cemetery may be required for burial
purposes, shall survey and subdivide such lands and make and file in the
office of the corporation a map thereof, open to public inspection,
delineating the lots or plots, avenues, paths, alleys and walks and
their respective designations; a true copy thereof shall upon its
written request, be filed with the cemetery board. Any unsold lots,
plots or parts thereof, in which there are no remains, by order of the
directors, may be resurveyed and altered in shape or size, and properly
designated on such map. (2) Every cemetery corporation shall provide
reasonable access to every lot, plot and grave. This provision shall not
be applicable where on September first, nineteen hundred forty-nine such
access cannot be provided without the disinterment of a body or bodies.
A cemetery corporation shall not permit or allow a body to be interred
hereafter in a path, alley, avenue or walk shown on the cemetery maps or
actually in existence. Nothing herein contained, however, shall prevent
a cemetery corporation in special cases from enlarging a lot by selling
to the owner thereof the access space next to such lot, and permitting
interments therein, provided reasonable access to such lot and to
adjoining lots is not thereby eliminated, and provided the approval of
the cemetery board shall have first been obtained.
  (c) Record of burials. A record shall be kept of every burial in the
cemetery of a cemetery corporation, showing the date of burial, the
name, age and place of birth of the person buried, when these
particulars can be conveniently obtained, and the lot, plot, or part
thereof, in which such burial was made. A copy of such record, duly
certified by the secretary of such corporation, shall be furnished on
demand and payment of such fees therefor as are allowed the county clerk
for certified copies of records.
  (d) When burial not to be refused. No cemetery corporation shall
refuse or deny the right of burial and the privileges incidental thereto
in any lot, plot or part thereof to those otherwise lawfully entitled to
be buried therein, for any reason except for the non-payment of
interment charges and the purchase price of the lot, plot or part
thereof, in accordance with the terms of the contract of purchase or
except as provided in subdivision (f) of section fifteen hundred nine of
this article.
  (e) Removals. A body interred in a lot in a cemetery owned or operated
by a corporation incorporated by or under a general or special law may
be removed therefrom, with the consent of the corporation, and the
written consent of the owners of the lot, and of the surviving wife,
husband, children, if of full age, and parents of the deceased. If the
consent of any such person or of the corporation can not be obtained,
permission by the county court of the county, or by the supreme court in
the district, where the cemetery is situated, shall be sufficient.
Notice of application for such permission must be given, at least eight
days prior thereto, personally, or, at least sixteen days prior thereto,
by mail, to the corporation or to the persons not consenting, and to
every other person or corporation on whom service of notice may be
required by the court.
  (f) Expenses of improving vacant lot. Whenever a person having a lot
in a cemetery shall vacate the same by a removal of all the bodies
therefrom, and leave such lot in an unsightly condition for one month,
the corporation may grade, cut, fill or otherwise change the surface
thereof, without reducing the area of the lot. The expense, not
exceeding ten dollars, shall be chargeable to the lot. If the owners of
such lot, within six months after such expense has been incurred, shall
not repay such expense, the corporation may sell the lot at public
auction upon the cemetery grounds, previous notice of such sale having
been posted at the main entrance of the cemetery, and mailed to the
owners of such lot at their last-known post office address, at least ten
days prior to the day of sale, and shall pay the surplus, if any, on
demand to the owners of such lot.
  (g) Removal or correction of dangerous conditions in cemetery lots.
Any plant life, fencing or embellishment or structure other than a
mausoleum, monument or mound, in a lot, plot or part thereof which
becomes so worn, neglected, broken or deteriorated that its continued
existence is a danger to persons or property within the cemetery grounds
may be removed, repaired or corrected by the cemetery corporation at its
own cost and expense, provided it first gives not less than fifteen days
notice by registered or certified mail to the last known owner at his
last known address to repair or remove such object and the said owner
shall fail to repair or remove the object within the time provided in
said notice. In the event of such removal, correction or repair by the
cemetery corporation it shall, within twenty days thereafter, notify the
lot owner, by registered or certified mail addressed to him at his last
known address, of the action taken by the cemetery corporation. Nothing
herein contained shall be construed to affect, supersede or impair any
contract, rule or regulation duly approved by the cemetery board, or
right or obligation of the cemetery corporation, nor shall it be
construed as placing any legal duty or obligation to exercise any right
authorized by this subdivision.
  (h) Repair or notice as to non-dangerous damage or defacement. Except
as otherwise provided by rule or regulation of the cemetery board
pursuant to subparagraph two-a of paragraph (c) of section fifteen
hundred four of this article, in the event a lot, plot or part thereof
is substantially damaged or defaced which does not present a dangerous
condition to persons or property, or in the event a mausoleum, monument
or mound in a lot, plot or part thereof is substantially damaged or
defaced, and the correction of such condition is not subject to the
provisions of paragraph (g) of this section or section fifteen hundred
ten-a of this article, the cemetery corporation within thirty days of
the discovery of this condition may at its own cost and expense repair
the damage or defacement, or if it determines not to do so, the
corporation shall within such thirty day period notify the owner, his or
her distributee or the person filing an affidavit with such corporation
pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (e) of section fifteen hundred
twelve of this article of such condition at the last address of such
owner, distributee or person appearing on the books and records of the
corporation. The notice shall be sent by first class mail and a
certificate of mailing shall be obtained. Nothing herein contained shall
be construed as establishing any right of damages not otherwise provided
by law, rule or contract in any person against the cemetery corporation
for failure to repair any condition described or give notice thereof as
provided for in this paragraph.
  (i) Record of inscriptions to be filed. Whenever, under any general or
special law, any cemetery is abandoned or is taken for a public use, the
town board of the town or the governing body of the city in which such
cemetery is located, shall cause to be made, at the time of the removal
of the bodies interred therein, an exact copy of all inscriptions on
each headstone, monument, slab or marker erected on each lot or plot in
such cemetery and shall cause the same to be duly certified and shall
file one copy thereof in the office of the town or city clerk of the
town or city in which such cemetery was located and one copy in the
office of the state historian and chief of the division of history in
the department of education at Albany. In addition to such inscriptions,
such certificate shall state the name and location of the cemetery so
abandoned or taken for a public use, the cemetery in which each such
body was so interred and the disposition of each such headstone,
monument, slab or marker.
  (j) Grave markers. No cemetery corporation, which provides for the
burial of persons of the Jewish faith, shall promulgate any rule or
regulation prohibiting the use of cement beds as a means of demarcating
a specific grave area. Such cemetery corporations shall provide this
service to all persons of the Jewish faith requesting this method of
marking a grave when such grave area is provided through the agency of a
membership or religious corporation or unincorporated association or
society which provides burial benefits for the members. Subject to the
rules and regulations promulgated by the cemetery board, such cemetery
corporations shall establish the schedule of charges to be assessed for
installation and maintenance of cement beds. The schedule of charges
shall be filed with and approved by the cemetery board. Such regulation
may require the payment of the cost of perpetual care as a condition to
such installation and maintenance. The charges assessed shall be paid by
the person requesting the service. The provisions of this paragraph
shall only be applicable within the counties contained within the first,
second, tenth and eleventh judicial districts as such districts are
arranged pursuant to section one hundred forty of the judiciary law.
  (k) Notice and restoration as to damage and defacement due to
vandalism.  In the event a monument is damaged or defaced by an act of
vandalism, the cemetery corporation shall, within thirty days of the
discovery of such damage, notify the owner, his distributee or the
person filing an affidavit with such corporation pursuant to the
provisions of paragraph one of subdivision (e) of section fifteen
hundred twelve of this article of such damage in the manner provided in
subdivision (h) of this section. The cost and expense of such notice may
be provided from the fund where such fund exists. If a fund has been
established, the cemetery corporation shall restore the monument with
moneys from such fund. If such a fund has not been established or where
such fund is inadequate to restore the monument, the cemetery
corporation may restore such monument at its own cost and expense.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed as establishing any right of
damages not otherwise provided by law, rule or contract in any person
against the cemetery corporation for failure to restore any monument if
no monument maintenance fund exists or if such fund is inadequate to
restore such monument.
  (l) Removal of monument. No person or organization shall remove a
monument without authorization in the form of a court order from a court
of competent jurisdiction, or without the written authorization of the
owner of a burial plot, or the lineal descendants of the deceased, if
such owner or lineal descendants are known, and without obtaining
written approval from a duly incorporated cemetery association, which
association shall keep a record of all such written approvals. The
provisions of this section shall not prohibit the removal, in accordance
with rules and regulations promulgated by the secretary of state, of a
monument for the purpose of repair, nonpayment or adding inscriptions as
authorized by a cemetery association or as permitted in this article. A
violation of any provision of this paragraph shall be punishable by a
fine not to exceed five hundred dollars.
  (m) Use of construction and demolition debris for burial. No cemetery
corporation or religious corporation having charge and control of a
cemetery which heretofore has been or which hereafter may be used for
burials, shall use construction and demolition debris, as that term is
defined in 6 NYCRR 360-1.2, for the purpose of burying human remains.

S 1510-a. Repair or removal of monuments.
  (a) Cemetery corporations may repair or remove any monuments or other
markers not owned by the cemetery corporation that have fallen into
disrepair or dilapidation so as to create a dangerous condition,
provided that the cemetery corporation has given not less than sixty
days notice by registered or certified mail to the last known owner at
that person`s last known address to repair or remove the monument or
other marker and the said owner has failed to do so within the time
provided in said notice.
  (b) In the event that the last known owner cannot be found, the notice
may be given by publishing the same once each week for three consecutive
weeks in a newspaper published or circulated in the county in which the
cemetery is located. Such notice shall be addressed to the last known
owner and to all persons having or claiming any interest in or to the
burial lot on which the monument or other marker is located. The notice
shall date from the date of mailing such notice by registered or
certified mail, or the date of the third publication in the newspaper.
  (c) Any monument or other marker that is removed as provided for in
this section shall be replaced with a flush bronze or granite marker
suitably inscribed if replacement is appropriate for identification
purposes.
  (d) Nothing contained herein shall be construed as establishing any
right of damages not otherwise provided by law, rule or contract in any
person against the cemetery corporation for failure to repair or remedy
any condition described or give notice thereof as provided for in this
section.

S 1511. Cemetery indebtedness.
  (a)  Certificates of indebtedness.  (1)  If a cemetery corporation be
indebted for lands purchased for cemetery purposes, or for services
rendered or materials furnished in connection with the necessary and
proper preservation or improvement of its cemetery or for moneys
borrowed exclusively for payment of such services or materials, the
directors, by the concurring vote of a majority of their whole number,
with the consent of the creditor to whom such indebtedness is owing, may
issue certificates under the corporate seal, signed by the president and
secretary, for such amount, payable at the times and at the rate of
interest agreed upon but not to exceed six per centum per annum;
provided, however, that there be first obtained from the cemetery board
an order approving the issuance of such certificates.  In the case of
certificates of indebtedness issued for moneys borrowed exclusively for
payment for services rendered or materials furnished in connection with
the necessary and proper preservation or improvement of its cemetery the
consent of the creditor to whom such indebtedness is owing shall not be
required.  (2)  Such approval shall be given by the cemetery board only
if it determines that the amount of the certificates proposed to be
issued does not exceed the fair and reasonable value of the services
rendered or materials furnished or the purchase price of real property
as fixed in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section.  No
certificate issued shall be valid or enforceable unless there has first
been issued by the cemetery board an order of approval as herein
provided.  No certificate shall be for less than one hundred dollars.
The certificate shall be transferable by delivery, unless therein
otherwise provided.  (3)  The directors shall keep an account of the
number and amount of such certificates, the persons to whom issued, the
date of maturity, the rate of interest and the purpose for which the
same were issued.  Each cemetery corporation shall file with the
cemetery board a verified statement setting forth all changes in such
account during the previous calendar or fiscal year.  (4)  The directors
shall set aside from the proceeds of sales of lots, plots and parts
thereof such sums to pay such certificates at maturity as they deem
necessary.  Until the certificates are paid the holders thereof shall be
entitled at all meetings of the corporation, to one vote for each one
hundred dollars of indebtedness remaining unpaid, except that those
certificates of indebtedness issued for moneys borrowed exclusively for
payment of services or materials shall have no voting power.  The
certificates shall not be a lien upon any lot, plot or part thereof
belonging to a lot owner.
  (b)  Application of proceeds of sales of lots.  (1)  At least one-half
of the proceeds of sales of lots or the use thereof remaining after the
deductions for the portion thereof required to be deposited in the
permanent maintenance fund and current maintenance fund together with
the expenses of sale shall be applied by a cemetery corporation to the
payment of the purchase price of the real property acquired by it.  The
remainder of such proceeds shall be applied by the corporation to
preserving, improving and embellishing the cemetery grounds and the
avenues and roads leading thereto, and to defraying its expenses and
discharging its liabilities.  After the payment of such purchase price,
and the expense of surveying and laying out the cemetery, all the
proceeds of such sales shall be applied to the improvement, preservation
and embellishment of the cemetery and to such expenses and liabilities.
(2)  Where a corporation has agreed with a person from whom any such
lands were purchased to pay therefor a specified share not exceeding
one-half of the proceeds of sales of lots therein or the use thereof,
such corporation may continue to make payments as so agreed, provided
however that there be first deducted from said proceeds of sales the
amount required to be deposited in the permanent maintenance fund and
current maintenance fund as aforesaid together with the expenses of
sale.  The balance of such proceeds shall continue to be applied by the
corporation to the preservation, improvement and embellishment of the
cemetery, and the expenses and liabilities of the corporation.  Where
the corporation has heretofore agreed to pay a specified share of the
proceeds as aforesaid in payment of the purchase price of land, the
prices of lots or the use thereof in force when such purchase was made,
shall not be changed, while the purchase price remains unpaid, without
the written consent of a majority in interest of the persons from whom
the lands were purchased or their legal representatives.  (3)  A
corporation which has hertofore issued certificates of land shares which
entitle the owner to a specified share in the proceeds of the sale of
lots, may purchase such certificates with its surplus or reserve funds
and hold such certificates for the benefit of its surplus or reserve
funds, but such certificates may not thereafter be sold or reissued.
  (c)  Certificates of stock formerly issued.  If a cemetery
corporation, incorporated under a law repealed by the membership
corporations law, prior to September first, eighteen hundred
ninety-five, converted its outstanding indebtedness or certificates of
indebtedness into certificates of stock, in pursuance of law, no
interest shall accrue to the holders of such stock, but they shall
receive annually or semi-annually a dividend thereon for their
proportional part of the entire surplus or net receipts of the
corporation over and above current expenses; or if the proportion of the
net receipts or surplus which stockholders shall be entitled to receive
shall have been fixed by agreement at the time of issuing such stock,
such stockholders shall be entitled to receive dividends in accordance
with such agreement.  Such certificates of stock shall be transferable
only on the books of the corporation on the surrender of the
certificate, unless otherwise provided on the face thereof, and on every
such surrender a new certificate of stock shall be issued to the person
to whom the same has been transferred; and the holders of such stock
shall be entitled, in person or by proxy, to one vote for every share
thereof, at each meeting of the corporation.  A register of the stock
issued by the corporation shall be kept by its directors showing the
date of issue, the number of shares, the par value thereof, the name of
each person to whom issued, the number of the certificates therefor; and
all transfers of such stock shall be noted and entered in such register,
and the certificates surrendered shall be deemed canceled by the issue
of a new certificate, and the surrendered certificate shall be
destroyed.  Any director may become the holder or transferee of such
stock for his own individual use or benefit.  No such stock shall be a
lien on the lot of any individual lot owner within the cemetery limits;
and no other or greater liability of the corporation issuing such stock
shall be created or deemed to exist than may be necessary to enforce the
faithful application of the surplus or net receipts of the corporation
to and among the holders of the stock in the manner hereinbefore
specified.  A cemetery which has heretofore issued such certificates of
stock is a membership corporation and not a stock corporation.
  (d)  Retirement of certificates of stock of certain cemetery
corporations.  If a cemetery association, incorporated under a law
repealed by chapter five hundred fifty-nine of the laws of eighteen
hundred ninety-five has changed certificates of indebtedness into
certificates of stock, pursuant to chapter one hundred seven of the laws
of eighteen hundred seventy-nine, and such stock remains unimpaired,
such association may retire such stock and issue in exchange therefor
certificates of indebtedness representing the par value of such stock,
such certificates of indebtedness to bear interest at a rate not
exceeding six per centum per annum from the date of the last preceding
dividend payment; provided, however, the exchange of such stock for
certificates of indebtedness shall be authorized at a duly called
meeting of such association by the affirmative vote of at least
two-thirds of the stock issued and outstanding and of at least
two-thirds of all votes cast at such meeting in favor of such exchange.
Any holder of such stock not voting in favor of the exchange of such
stock for certificates of indebtedness may at any time prior to the vote
upon such exchange, or if notice of the meeting to vote upon such
exchange was not mailed to him at least twenty days prior to the taking
of such vote, then within twenty days after the mailing of such notice,
object to such exchange and demand payment for his stock and thereupon
such stockholder or the corporation shall have the right, subject to the
same conditions and provisions contained in section six hundred
twenty-three of the business corporation law, to have such stock
appraised and paid for as provided in such section.  Such objection and
demand must be in writing and filed with the corporation.  The
provisions of this section relating to certificates of indebtedness and
the rights of the holders thereof shall apply to certificates of
indebtedness issued as provided in this subdivision.  The stocks so
retired shall not be reissued by such association and it shall have no
right thereafter to issue any certificates of stock.
  (e)  Purchase, retirement and exchange of stock.  (1)  A cemetery
corporation which has issued certificates of stock, pursuant to chapter
one hundred seven of the laws of eighteen hundred seventy-nine, or
chapter two hundred sixty-seven of the laws of eighteen hundred
ninety-four, may purchase such certificates of stock with its surplus or
reserve funds, and hold such certificates for the benefit of its surplus
or reserve funds, but such certificates of stock so purchased may not
thereafter be sold or reissued.  (2)  A cemetery corporation which has
issued certificates of stock may also effect the retirement of such
stock as follows:  The board of directors of such corporation shall
adopt by vote of a majority of the entire number of such directors a
plan for such retirement which shall include the fixing of a price which
the corporation will pay for all shares of stock then outstanding, which
price shall, in the opinion of such directors, represent the fair value
of such stock.  The said plan shall be submitted to a duly called
meeting of the members of such corporation and, if approved by the
affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all votes cast at such
meeting, including the affirmative vote of the holders of record of at
least two-thirds of all shares of stock issued and then outstanding
exclusive of any shares of stock held by the corporation, shall become
binding upon all stockholders, and they shall proceed to transfer and
surrender to the corporation their certificates of stock and to receive
payment therefor in accordance with the terms of such plan.  Any holder
of shares of such stock not voting in favor of such plan may at any time
prior to the vote approving such plan, or if notice of the meeting to
vote upon such plan was not mailed to him at least twenty days prior to
the taking of such vote, then within twenty days after the mailing of
such notice, but in any event within ten days after the taking of such
vote, by written notice filed with such corporation, object to such plan
and demand appraisal of his shares.  Thereupon, such stockholder or the
corporation shall have the right, subject to the same conditions and
provisions contained in section six hundred twenty-three of the business
corporation law, to have such stock appraised and paid for as provided
in such section.  (3)  A cemetery corporation which has issued
certificates of stock may also effect the exchange of such stock as
follows:  The board of directors of such corporation shall adopt by a
vote of a majority of the entire number of such directors a plan for the
exchange of all shares of stock then outstanding for a like number of
participating certificates.  Such participating certificates shall
entitle the owners to a specified share not exceeding, collectively,
one-half of the proceeds of sales of lots therein or the use thereof
after first deducting from such proceeds of sale the amount required to
be deposited in the permanent maintenance fund and current maintenance
fund as provided in and pursuant to subdivision (a) of section fifteen
hundred seven of this article, together with the expenses of sale.  Such
plan shall then be submitted to the cemetery board for its approval.  In
making its determination the cemetery board shall consider and may
condition its approval on the purposes of this section.  Thereafter, if
the cemetery board approves such plan, or in the event the cemetery
board conditioned its approval and the conditions imposed have been
accepted by a vote of a majority of the entire board of directors of the
corporation, such plan shall be submitted to a duly called meeting of
the members of such corporation, and, if approved by the affirmative
vote of at least two-thirds of all votes cast at such meeting, including
the affirmative vote of the holders of record of at least ninety per
centum of all shares of stock issued and then outstanding exclusive of
any shares of stock held by the corporation, shall become binding upon
all stockholders.  The stockholders shall then proceed to transfer and
surrender to the corporation their shares of stock and to receive in
exchange therefor participating certificates in accordance with the
terms of such plan.  Any holder of shares of such stock not voting in
favor of such plan may at any time prior to the vote approving such
plan, or if notice of the meeting to vote upon such plan was not mailed
to him at least twenty days prior to the taking of such vote, then
within twenty days after the mailing of such notice, but in any event
within ten days after the taking of such vote, by written notice filed
with such corporation, object to such plan and demand appraisal of his
shares.  Thereupon, such stockholder or the corporation shall have the
right, subject to the same conditions and provisions contained in
section six hundred twenty-three of the business corporation law, to
have such stock appraised and paid for as provided in such section.
Each such participating certificate issued in exchange for a share of
stock shall entitle the holder thereof to one vote for each certificate
at all meetings of the corporation.  The prices of lots or the use
thereof at the time when such exchange is made shall not be changed,
while such participating certificates remain outstanding, without the
written consent of a majority in interest of the holders thereof except
as now or hereafter authorized by law.  The shares of stock so exchanged
shall not be reissued by such corporation and it shall have no right
thereafter to issue any shares of stock.
  (f)  Exchange of certificates for shares.  The directors of a cemetery
corporation, which has issued certificates for shares, from time to time
by resolution, may fix the value of each of such shares and authorize
the acceptance by the corporation of such certificates at the value so
fixed in payment for land.  All certificates so accepted shall be
immediately cancelled and shall not be again issued.

S 1512. Rights of lot owners.
  (a) Lots; indivisible and inalienable. All lots, plots or parts
thereof, the use of which has been conveyed as a separate lot, shall be
indivisible, except with the consent of the lot owner or lot owners and
the corporation, or as in this section provided. After a burial therein,
the same shall be inalienable, except as otherwise provided.
  (b) Interest of deceased lot owner. Upon the death of an owner or
co-owner of any lot, plot or part thereof, unless the same shall be held
in joint tenancy, or tenancy by the entirety, the interest of the
deceased lot owner shall pass to the devises of such lot owner, but, if
such interest be not effectually devised, then to his or her descendants
then surviving, and if there be none, then to the surviving spouse, and
if there be none, then to those entitled to take the real and personal
property of the deceased lot owner pursuant to article four of the
estates, powers and trust law provided, however, that no interest in any
lot, plot or part thereof shall pass by any residuary or other general
clause in a will and such interest shall pass by will only if the lot,
plot or part thereof sought to be devised is specifically referred to in
such will.  The surviving spouse of a deceased lot owner during his or
her life and the owners from time to time of the deceased lot owner`s
lot, plot or part thereof, shall have in common the possession, care and
control of such lot, plot or part thereof.
  (c) Purchase for burial of decedent. Whenever a lot, plot or part
thereof shall be purchased by the executor, administrator or
representative of a decedent from estate funds for the burial of the
decedent, the surviving spouse of the decedent shall have the right of
interment therein, and the deed shall run to the names of the
distributees, other than the surviving spouse, of the decedent, or to
"The distributees, other than the surviving spouse, of .........,
deceased", if there be such surviving spouse, otherwise to "The
distributees of............., deceased." If the deed shall run to "The
distributees, other than the surviving spouse of ........., deceased,"
or to "The distributees of ........., deceased," the executor,
administrator or representative shall, at the time of delivery of the
deed to such lot, plot or part thereof, file with the corporation an
affidavit setting forth the names and places of residence of all the
decedent`s distributees, and the corporation shall be entitled to rely
upon the truth of the statements contained in such affidavit.
  (d) Right of interment. A deceased person shall have the right of
interment in any lot, plot or part thereof of which he or she was the
owner or co-owner at the time of his or her death, or in any tomb
erected thereon. The surviving spouse shall have the right of interment
for his or her body in a lot or tomb in which the deceased spouse was an
owner or co-owner at the time of his or her death, except where all the
available burial spaces in a lot or tomb have been designated for the
interment of persons other than the surviving spouse, pursuant to
subdivision (f) of this section, and a right to have his or her body
remain permanently interred or entombed therein, except, that such body
may be removed therefrom as provided in subdivision (e) of section
fifteen hundred ten of this article. Such right may be enforced and
protected by his or her personal representatives. The remains of a
spouse, parent or child of a person who is an owner or co-owner thereof
may be interred in such lot or tomb without the consent of any person
claiming any interest therein, subject, however, to the following rules
and exceptions: (A) The place of interment in such lot shall be subject
to the reasonable determination by a majority of the co-owners or in the
absence of such determination by the cemetery corporation or its officer
or agent having immediate charge of interments. (B) Any husband or wife
living separate from the other and owning a lot in which the other, but
for this section, would have no right of burial, at least thirty days
before the death of the other, may file with the cemetery corporation a
written objection to the interment of the other, and thereupon there
shall be no right of interment under this subdivision. (C) A parent or
child owning a lot in which the other would have no right of burial but
for this section, at least thirty days before the death of the other,
may file with the cemetery corporation a written objection to the
interment of the other, and thereupon there shall be no right of
interment under this subdivision. In such case, if the parent or child
so excluded from burial in such lot shall die without having any place
of interment, then the person filing such objection shall at once
provide for the other a suitable place of burial in a convenient
cemetery.  The cost of such place of interment shall be chargeable to
the decedent`s estate, if any. (D) This section shall not permit a
burial in any ground or place contrary to or in violation of any
precept, rule, regulation or usage of any church or religious society,
association or corporation restricting burial therein.  This subdivision
shall not limit any existing right of burial under other provisions of
law, nor shall it limit or curtail the right of alienation, under the
rules of the cemetery corporation wherein such lot is situated, by the
owner of a lot before the death of the person for whose remains the
right of burial is provided herein, and there shall be no right of
burial in any lot sold by its owner, before the death of the person for
whose remains the right of burial is provided herein.
  (e) More than one person entitled to possession and control. (1) At
any time when more than one person is entitled to the possession, care
and control of such lot, any of the persons so entitled thereto may file
with the corporation an affidavit setting forth the names and places of
residence of all the persons entitled to the possession, care and
control of such lot, and the corporation shall be entitled to rely upon
the truth of the statements contained in such affidavit. The corporation
shall be entitled to collect a reasonable fee for filing and recording
such affidavit and other documents filed in its office.  (2) At any time
when more than one person is entitled to the possession, care or control
of such lot, plot or part thereof, the persons so entitled thereto shall
file with the corporation a designation of a person who shall represent
the lot, plot or part thereof, and so long as they shall fail to
designate, the corporation may make such designation. A distributee may
release his or her interest in a lot, plot or part thereof, to the other
distributees, and a joint owner may release or devise to the other joint
owners, his or her right in the lot, plot or part thereof, on conditions
specified in the release or will, the original or certified copy of
which shall be filed in the office of the corporation. The surviving
spouse not excluded from the right of burial under the provisions of
subdivision (d) of this section, at any time may release his or her
right in such lot, plot or part thereof, but no conveyance or devise by
any other person shall deprive him or her of such right.
  (f) Designation of persons who may be interred. At any time all the
owners of a lot, and any surviving spouse having a right of interment
therein, may execute, acknowledge and file with the corporation an
instrument, and the sole owner of a lot may, in a testamentary
instrument admitted to probate, make a provision, which may (A)
designate the person or persons or class of persons who may thereafter
be interred in said lot or in a tomb in such lot and the places of their
interment; (B) direct that upon the interment of certain named persons,
the lot or tomb in such lot shall be closed to further interments; (C)
direct that the title of the lot shall upon the death of any one or more
of the owners, descend in perpetuity to his, her or their distributees,
unaffected by any devise. In any case in which an irrevocable
designation of a person, persons or class of persons who may be interred
in any lot or tomb has been made pursuant to this subdivision and in
which the designated person or persons, or all of the known class of
designated persons, have died and have not been buried in the places
designated in said lot or tomb, or have by a written instrument duly
signed and acknowledged and filed with the corporation, renounced the
right of interment pursuant to such designation, then, and in any such
event, the then owner or owners of said lot or tomb and any surviving
spouse having the right of interment therein, may designate another
person or persons or class of persons who may thereafter be interred in
said lot or in a tomb in said lot, and the places of their interment,
unless the original designation clearly indicated not only that it was
irrevocable, but also that no further designations were to be made. Any
designation provided for by this subdivision except a designation by
testamentary instrument, shall be deemed revocable unless such
instrument provides otherwise.  In the event an owner or co-owner of a
lot is under the age of eighteen years, any designation provided for by
this subdivision, except a designation by testamentary instrument, may
be executed and acknowledged by the parent or general or testamentary
guardian for and on behalf of such owner or co-owner, provided, however,
that no such designation may be made unless a place of interment shall
remain available in said lot or in a tomb in such lot for the interment
of each owner or co-owner of the lot under the age of eighteen years,
and any designation so made may be revoked by the owner or co-owner upon
reaching the age of eighteen years except with respect to burials
effected before that time. A designation made by a parent or guardian on
behalf of an infant owner or co-owner who is over the age of fourteen
years must contain the written consent of such infant owner or co-owner.
  (g) Lot owner voting. Each owner of full age of a lot in the cemetery
of the corporation, as shown in the records of the cemetery at the time
of the purchase of the lot from the corporation, or if there be two or
more owners, then one of them designated in writing by a majority of
them, may cast, in person or by proxy, one vote at meetings of the
corporation in respect to each such lot so owned. At such meetings, each
owner of a certificate of stock heretofore lawfully issued shall be
entitled to one vote for each share of stock owned by him and each owner
of a certificate of indebtedness shall be entitled to one vote for each
one hundred dollars of such indebtedness remaining unpaid.  No lot owner
shall be entitled to vote unless all assessments against the lot of such
owner shall have been paid. A quorum for the transaction of business,
unless the certificate of incorporation or by-laws otherwise provide,
shall be five members entitled to vote at the meeting. In the event a
lot owner has executed a proxy which has been in effect for five or more
years, the cemetery corporation shall not honor such proxy unless it is
presented with proof that the lot owner has been sent a written notice
at the address listed in the records of the corporation at least thirty
days prior to the meeting at which the proxy is to be exercised advising
the lot owner that the proxy is still effective. The notice shall
identify the date, time and place of such meeting, and the name of the
person holding the proxy and shall state that it may, unless the proxy
provides otherwise, be terminated at any time. Such notice need not be
mailed more frequently than every fifth year.

S 1513. Sale of burial rights.
  (a) Conveyance of lots. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this
subdivision the right to use any lot, plot or part thereof may be sold
or conveyed only by the cemetery corporation.  (2) It shall be unlawful
for any person, firm or corporation to purchase or for a cemetery
corporation to sell a lot, plot or part thereof for the purpose of
resale. This provision, however, shall not prohibit the sale to its
members of lots, plots or parts thereof, or the right to use any lot,
plot or part thereof, by a membership or religious corporation or
unincorporated association or society which provides burial benefits for
its members.  (3) It shall be unlawful for a cemetery corporation to pay
or offer to pay, or for any person, firm or corporation to receive,
directly or indirectly, a commission, bonus, rebate or other things of
value for, or in connection with, the sale of any lot, plot or part
thereof, or the sale of space in a public mausoleum, or the furnishing
by or through the cemetery corporation of any service, merchandise,
wares, goods or articles. The provisions of this paragraph shall not
apply to a person regularly employed and supervised by the cemetery
corporation. (4) A violation of this subdivision shall constitute a
misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars or not more than six months imprisonment or both. Each
violation shall constitute a separate offense.
  (b) Prices for burial rights and instruments of conveyance. (1) The
directors must fix and determine the prices of the burial lots, plots or
parts thereof, and keep a plainly printed copy of the schedules of such
prices conspicuously posted in each of the offices of the corporation,
open at all reasonable times to inspection, and shall file a schedule of
such prices in the office of the cemetery board. (2) Unless its
certificate of incorporation or by-laws otherwise provide, and subject
to its rules and regulations, the corporation shall sell and convey to
any person the use of the lots, plots or parts thereof designated on the
map filed in the office of the corporation, on payment of the prices so
fixed and determined, but need not sell and convey more than one lot,
plot or part thereof to any one person. Conveyances of lots, plots and
parts thereof shall be signed by the president or vice-president and
treasurer or assistant treasurer of the corporation. A written contract
for the sale or use of a lot, plot or part thereof shall have attached
thereto and made a part thereof a copy of the rules and regulations of
the cemetery corporation or such parts of such rules and regulations as
relate to the size and placement of monuments, restrictions on plot
usage, warranties, obligations of the cemetery corporation and financial
obligations and duties of the lot owner. If a lot, plot or part thereof
is sold without a written contract, the corporation shall, before any
part of the purchase price is paid by the purchaser, deliver to the
purchaser a copy of the rules and regulations or such parts thereof as
would be required to be attached to a written contract. Nothing in this
subdivision shall prevent the subsequent amendment of such rules and
regulations to increase the charges for services rendered by the
corporation or in other particulars by or with the consent of the
cemetery board under section fifteen hundred nine of this article. (3) A
cemetery corporation that shall sell a lot, plot or part thereof, in
excess of the price shown on the schedule filed in the office of the
cemetery board, and any person acting for or on behalf of the cemetery
corporation in connection with such sale, shall each forfeit to the
people of the state of New York a sum equivalent to three times the
excess amount so paid. Such penalty may be recovered in a civil action
by the cemetery board. (4) The instrument of conveyance of any burial
lot, plot or part thereof shall include the actual amount paid therefor
and a description showing the dimensions of the property conveyed, and
the plot number, section and block number as they appear on the cemetery
map.
  (c) Resale by lot owner. Before any burial shall have been made in any
such lot, plot or part thereof, or, if all the bodies therein have been
lawfully removed, the lot owner may sell or convey such lot, plot or
part thereof subject to the prior approval of the cemetery board. Such
approval shall not be granted unless the owner of such lot, plot or part
thereof shall have offered it to the cemetery corporation within two
years prior to the application for such approval, in writing by
registered or certified mail, at the price paid therefor by said lot
owner, together with simple interest at the rate of four per centum per
annum, and the cemetery corporation shall have failed to accept such
offer within thirty days after the making thereof. In the event the lot
owner shall have acquired the lot, plot or part thereof other than by
purchase, and provided the cemetery corporation and the lot owner cannot
agree upon a price, the cemetery board shall fix a price therefor. In
arriving at the price the cemetery board shall take into consideration
the original price for which the cemetery corporation sold the lot, plot
or part thereof, and any other circumstances or factor which equitably
relates to the price. The secretary of the cemetery corporation shall
file and record in its books all instruments of transfer. An owner may
convey or devise to the corporation his right and title in and to any
such lot, plot or part thereof.
  (d) Lots held in inalienable form. (1) No portion of the cemetery of a
cemetery corporation which any person other than the corporation is
entitled to use for burial purposes, or in which bodies have been buried
and not removed, shall be sold, mortgaged or leased by the corporation.
A cemetery corporation may convey any lot so that upon such conveyance,
or after an interment therein, such lot shall be forever inalienable,
and upon the death of the lot owner shall pass to such person or persons
as may be designated in the conveyance or if no such designation be
made, shall descend as provided in section fifteen hundred twelve of
this article. Any one or more of the owners of such a lot may release or
devise to any other owner of the lot his interest therein on such
conditions as shall be specified in the release or will. (2) Any person
who is the sole owner of the burial rights in a cemetery lot, plot or
any part thereof, in which a burial has been made, may give his entire
interest, or, if not prohibited by the rules and regulations of the
cemetery corporation, any portion thereof to any person within the third
degree of consanguinity to the owner, or, in the event that no such
person exists, within the fourth degree of consanguinity to such owner.
Such conveyance shall be made subject to the right of interment of the
spouse of any deceased owner, which right said spouse may release at any
time, but no conveyance or devise by any other person shall deprive the
surviving spouse of such right. Burial rights shall not be conveyed
pursuant to the provisions of this subparagraph more frequently than
once in any ten-year period. (3) A cemetery corporation may take and
hold any lot conveyed or devised to it by the lot owner so that
thereafter it will be inalienable, and the interments therein shall be
restricted to such person or class of persons as may be designated in
the conveyance or devise.  (4) The title of a lot owner shall not be
affected by the dissolution of the corporation, by non-user of its
corporate rights and franchises by any act of forfeiture on its part, by
any alienation of its property or by incumbrance thereon made or
suffered by it.

S 1513-a. Reacquisition of a lot, plot or part thereof by a cemetery
             corporation.
  A cemetery corporation may, upon application and approval by the
cemetery board, reacquire, resubdivide, and resell a lot, plot or part
thereof under the following circumstances:
  (a)(i) If the records of the corporation demonstrate that the lot,
plot or part thereof was purchased more than seventy-five years prior to
the application of the corporation; and (ii) if no burials have been
made in the lot, plot or part thereof or all the bodies therein have
been lawfully removed; and (iii) if neither the owner or owners of the
lot, plot or part thereof nor any person having a credible claim to
ownership who has visited, made payments in respect of or engaged in any
other proprietary activities with respect to the lot, plot or part
thereof can be identified after a reasonable search conducted by the
cemetery corporation, it shall be conclusively presumed that the owner
or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof have abandoned their burial
rights. A reasonable search consists of a search of: (1) all cemetery
records to determine the name of the owner or owners of the lot, plot or
part thereof, their last known addresses and all information available
to the cemetery relating to any person buried in the lot, plot or part
thereof and the names and last known addresses of any persons making
inquiry about or visiting the lot, plot or part thereof; (2) a search
for the death certificates and the probated wills of the owner or owners
of the lot, plot or part thereof; (3) the posting of notice by the
cemetery at the entrance to the cemetery and in the cemetery office, if
any, of its intention to declare the lot, plot or part thereof
abandoned; (4) the mailing of such notice certified mail with return
receipt requested to the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part
thereof and each person identified during the reasonable search at their
last known addresses; (5) publication of such notice once in each week
for three successive weeks, in two newspapers of regular commercial
circulation by subscription and/or newsstand sale, to be designated by
the county clerk of the county where the cemetery is located which in
his or her judgement, given the ethnic, religious, geographic or other
related demographic characteristics of the owner or owners of the lot,
plot or part thereof and each person identified through the reasonable
search and the predominant readership of such newspapers are best
calculated to inform the owner or owners of the lot, plot or part
thereof and each person identified through the reasonable search of any
application pursuant to the provisions of this section; and (6) the
preparation of an affidavit describing the steps taken by the cemetery
corporation to ascertain the identity of and to contact the current
owner or owners of the lot, plot or part thereof or next-of-kin thereof
or any other persons identified in the course of the reasonable search
who might have relevant information and the results of such steps. After
the filing with the cemetery board of proof of compliance with the above
requirements in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to such board
and upon approval by the cemetery board, the lot, plot or part thereof
may be resold by the cemetery to any party in compliance with the
cemetery rules and regulations provided, however, that any monument
subsequently placed on such lot, plot or part thereof shall conform to
the general appearance of any existing monuments in said section of
lots, plots or parts thereof, if any.
  (b) If (i) the circumstances described in paragraph (a) of this
section exist except that one or more burials have been made in a lot,
and the last burial was made more than seventy-five years prior to the
application, (ii) the lot, plot or part thereof can be subdivided to
create new graves, (iii) the bodies have not been lawfully removed, and
(iv) the cemetery submits an application to the cemetery board which
complies with the requirements set forth in paragraph (a) of this
section, it shall be conclusively presumed that the lot owner has
abandoned the right to make further burials in the lot, the lot may be
subdivided, and the resubdivided lot, plot or parts thereof which do not
contain the remains of the deceased persons may be resold by the
cemetery corporation as provided in this section. Nothing in this
section shall permit a cemetery corporation to declare abandoned a lot,
plot or part thereof, where such lot, plot or part thereof was purchased
for multiple depth burials and where one or more burials has occurred or
authorized a cemetery corporation to remove a monument or other
embellishment to facilitate the resale of such lot, plot or part
thereof, except as provided by section fifteen hundred ten of this
article.
  (c) If the owner or owners of a lot, plot or part thereof can be
identified, the cemetery corporation, with the consent of the owner or
owners of the lot, plot or part thereof, the lot, plot or part thereof
may be resubdivided, and the resubdivided lot, plot or part thereof
which does not contain the remains of deceased persons may be resold by
the cemetery corporation, provided, however, if no burial has been made
in the lot, plot or part thereof, in the twenty-five year period
preceding such application, the owner of a lot, plot or part thereof has
notified his or her parents, spouse, issue, brothers, sisters,
grandparents, and grandchildren, if any, of the application to the
cemetery board, and provided further, however, if a burial has been made
in this lot, plot or part thereof during such twenty-five year period,
the spouse and issue of such deceased person are also notified, and
provided further, in either case the owner of the lot, plot or part
thereof satisfies the cemetery board that none of the persons notified
have agreed within forty-five days of notification to purchase the lot,
plot or part thereof at the price provided under paragraph (c) of
section fifteen hundred thirteen of this article.
  (d) Upon the sale of a lot, plot or part thereof reacquired by the
corporation under the provisions of paragraph (a), (b), or (c) of this
section, thirty-five percent of the net proceeds shall be placed in the
permanent maintenance fund and sixty-five percent shall be placed in the
current maintenance fund.
  (e) If the owner of the lot, plot or part thereof is subsequently
identified, the cemetery corporation shall: (i) return all unsold lots,
plots or parts thereof if any, to the owner if so requested; and (ii)
with respect to