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2022 SESSION

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SB 129 Alkaline hydrolysis; work group to determine regulatory & statutory changes needed to legalize, etc.

Introduced by: Joseph D. Morrissey | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Study; Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; alkaline hydrolysis work group; report. Directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to convene a work group to study how to legalize, implement, and regulate the process of alkaline hydrolysis in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Board to report the results of the study to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions on or before November 1, 2022.

SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE:

Study; Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; alkaline hydrolysis work group; report. Directs the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers to convene a work group to study how to legalize, implement, and regulate the process of alkaline hydrolysis in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Board to report the results of the study to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions on or before November 1, 2022.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Definitions; cremate; crematory; alkaline hydrolysis. Expands the definition of "cremate" to include reducing a dead human body to ashes and bone fragments through alkaline hydrolysis, a water-based process of dissolution using alkaline chemicals and agitation known as aquamation. The bill adds "aquamator" as an additional term for the existing definition of "cremator." The bill also adds "aquatorium" as an additional term for the existing definition of "crematory" or "crematorium" and amends the definition to include a facility containing a pressure vessel. Under current law, "cremate" means to reduce a dead human body to ashes and bone fragments by the action of fire, and "crematory" or "crematorium" means a facility containing a furnace for cremation of dead human bodies.