CHAPTER 147
SB 39 – FINAL VERSION
09Mar2005… 0509h
2005 SESSION
01/04
SENATE BILL 39
COMMITTEE: Public and Municipal Affairs
This bill requires that before a disinterment of a dead body of a human being is permitted, the immediate next of kin shall be notified.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
09Mar2005… 0509h
05-0771
01/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT relative to disinterment of dead bodies.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
147:1 Disinterment of Dead Bodies. Amend RSA 290:5 to read as follows:
290:5 Burial Permit Required. No interment of the dead body of a human being, nor disposition of the body in a tomb or vault, shall be made without a permit, and only in accordance with it. No disinterment, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, of the dead body of a human being shall be made without a permit from the department of health and human services, countersigned by the local health officer, and only in accordance with such permit. Before a disinterment permit is granted, the surviving spouse, parents, and children, who are 18 years of age or older, of the deceased human being shall be given written notice by certified mail of the disinterment request and shall be afforded 10 days from the written notice to object to the disinterment before the permit is issued. Such disinterment permit shall not be required for removal of such dead body from a tomb or vault for the purpose of burial, for reinterment of dead bodies after discontinuance of a public cemetery, as provided in RSA 289:15 and 289:16, if a body is to be removed within the geographic boundaries of the same cemetery, nor in a case where an autopsy has been ordered by a county attorney or the attorney general. No person shall assist in, assent to, or allow an interment or disinterment to be made until a permit has been obtained under this section. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
147:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2006.
(Approved: June 17, 2005)
(Effective Date: January 1, 2006)