REPORT TITLE:
Unclaimed Corpses


DESCRIPTION:
Allows the department to authorize cremation of unclaimed
corpses.

 
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                                                        2854
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO UNCLAIMED CORPSES.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Pursuant to section 27-1, Hawaii Revised
 
 2 Statutes, the burial or disposal of unclaimed corpses is
 
 3 identified as a state function.  The department of human
 
 4 services, as provided by section 346-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
 5 has authority to pay for burial services, including cremation.
 
 6      The purpose of this bill is to require the cremation of
 
 7 unclaimed corpses, place the responsibility for authorizing
 
 8 cremation of unclaimed corpses upon the department of human
 
 9 services, and provide immunity from liability arising from such
 
10 cremations for the department and any person or public or private
 
11 agency acting upon authorization by the department.
 
12      SECTION 2.  Section 346-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
13 amended to read as follows:
 
14      "§346-15  Burial of deceased public assistance recipients or
 
15 unclaimed corpses.(a)  The department of human services may
 
16 bear the cost of the burial of deceased public assistance
 
17 recipients or unclaimed corpses.  Burial services include the
 
18 customary mortuary, crematory, cemetery, and other services
 
19 essential in providing a dignified burial.
 

 
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 1      (b)  The department may pay for mortuary and crematory
 
 2 services[,] to be furnished by any licensed provider of mortuary
 
 3 and crematory services.  Mortuary and crematory payments shall be
 
 4 made to the extent of cost, or in the sum of $400, whichever is
 
 5 less.
 
 6      (c)  The department may pay for cemetery services, to be
 
 7 furnished by any licensed provider of cemetery services.
 
 8 Cemetery payments shall be made to the extent of cost, or in the
 
 9 sum of $400, whichever is less.
 
10      (d)  In cases where the decedent is survived by relatives,
 
11 the relatives shall be permitted to make their own arrangements
 
12 for the burial or cremation of their deceased relative.
 
13      (e)  The person making an application for funeral payments
 
14 under the department's funeral payment program, on behalf of a
 
15 deceased medical or financial assistance recipient or for an
 
16 unclaimed corpse, shall have sixty days from the date of death of
 
17 the deceased to submit the application for funeral payments to
 
18 the department.
 
19      (f)  All unclaimed corpses shall be cremated.  The
 
20 department of human services shall authorize the cremation of
 
21 unclaimed corpses.
 
22      (g)  A person or public or private agency, including the
 
23 department of human services, shall not be liable for any damage
 

 
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 1 or subject to criminal prosecution for any act done pursuant to
 
 2 and in compliance with this section.
 
 3      (h)  For the purposes of this section, "unclaimed corpse"
 
 4 means the remains of any deceased person for whom no one has
 
 5 assumed responsibility for disposition of the body within five
 
 6 calendar days from the date of death and about whom the
 
 7 department and the respective county medical examiner or coroner
 
 8 have no actual knowledge of a legally responsible party.
 
 9      [(f)] (i)  The department shall adopt rules pursuant to
 
10 chapter 91 for purposes of administering and implementing this
 
11 section."
 
12      SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
13 New statutory material is underscored.
 
14      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.
 
15 
 
16                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________
 

 
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