PRINTER'S NO. 906
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
765
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY LANGERHOLC, STEFANO AND MENSCH, JUNE 15, 2021
REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, JUNE 15, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 8, 1891 (P.L.212, No.184), entitled "An
act in relation to cremation of human bodies in this
Commonwealth," further providing for permit to cremate and
for information for cremation; providing for cremation
temperature; further providing for penalties; and providing
for definitions and for duties of the Department of
Environmental Protection.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 1 and 2 of the act of June 8, 1891
(P.L.212, No.184), entitled "An act in relation to cremation of
human bodies in this Commonwealth," are amended to read:
Section 1. Permit to Cremate
Every [undertaker or proprietor or person in charge of any
crematory or furnace or place] crematory operator where any
human corpse shall or may be cremated [or incinerated], shall,
before removing any such corpse to, or receiving any such corpse
at, such crematory, [furnace or place for cremating or
incinerating the same,] obtain a permit to cremate [or
incinerate] such corpse from the [board or] department of health
or local health [authorities] authority of the city or locality
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within which such crematory [furnace or place is situate] is
located.
Section 2. Before such permit shall be granted, every person
applying therefor, shall deposit and file in the office of such
[board or] department of health or local health [authorities]
authority, a certificate signed [in ink by the physician
attending during the last illness of such deceased person, (or
the certificate of the coroner), and the undertaker and
proprietor or person in charge of such crematory, furnace or
place, setting forth the decedent's name, age, sex, birthplace,
color, last residence by ward, street and number, if such
residence was in a city, otherwise as nearly as may be, the time
of residence therein, the place of last previous residence, the
cause, place and time of death, the place, date and hour of the
intended cremation or incineration, and, when practicable, the
names of the father and mother of deceased.] by the coroner and
the crematory operator setting forth the individual's name, age,
gender, residence, the cause, place and time of death and the
date and hour of the intended cremation.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 2.1. A crematory operator must maintain a one-hour
average temperature of at least one thousand six hundred degrees
Fahrenheit in the cremation chamber, with a minimum residence
time for combustion gases of at least one second, when remains
are being cremated.
Section 3. Section 3 of the act is amended to read:
Section 3. Any person wilfully violating any of the
provisions of this act or being present at, helping or assisting
in any cremation [or incineration] of any human corpse where a
permit has not been previously obtained in conformity with and
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as required by this act, shall forfeit and pay for every offense
[not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred
dollars, to be recovered before alderman or police magistrate]
within the city or county where the offense shall be committed.
Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 4. The following words and phrases when used in this
act shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Cremation." A process that reduces human remains to bone
fragments. The term includes processing and the pulverization of
the bone fragments.
"Cremation chamber." A furnace or apparatus for burning
human remains to bone fragments.
"Crematory." A building that houses the cremation chamber,
notwithstanding if the building serves only the function of
cremation or the building also contains the administrative
offices, mortuary preparation rooms, cemetery maintenance
facilities or other related tasks performed by the crematory
operator.
"Crematory operator." The individual who is authorized to
operate the crematory and perform the cremation process.
Section 5. The Department of Environmental Protection may
not require a cremation to occur at a temperature greater than
the temperature set forth in section 2.1 of the act.
Section 6. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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