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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 3, 2021 10:00 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Steven R. Malagari |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Cool the °Fs down: Support our local crematories |
| A few degrees makes all the difference. The current recommended temperature for the modern crematory to operate efficiently and successfully is between 1400º F and 1800º F. Any crematory placed into operation after April 17, 1989 is required to utilize a temperature of 1800º Fahrenheit (F). We need to drop some °Fs. Here’s why: Cremation services have doubled since Pennsylvania placed temperature guidelines in place for operations. As the popularity for these services has increased, demand for crematories has increased as well. When current temperature regulations were introduced, demand for these services stood at 17.13%. Small crematoriums experienced smaller overhead with business sustainability. In 2019, cremation services jumped to 54.6%. It is expected these services will continue to expand and by 2035 will stand at approximately 79.1%. There are currently 200 crematoriums in the Commonwealth, many of them are family owned. To operate at consistently higher temperatures causes undue burden on equipment, higher fuel consumption and more environmental gas emissions into the atmosphere. To help mitigate the cost to these small businesses, I am proposing legislation to aid Pennsylvania crematoriums operate in the most valuable way as possible. This legislation would set the minimum operating temperature of crematoriums at 1600º F. All other regulations pertaining to the operation of animal and human crematory incinerators would be carried over into this statute. |
Introduced as HB1464