REMAINS OF SERVICE MEMBER H.B. 5850 (H-1): FLOOR SUMMARY
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House Bill 5850 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Representative Fred Miller
House Committee: Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security
Senate Committee: Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs

CONTENT
The bill would amend the Estates and Protected Individuals Code to authorize a person to make decisions about the remains of a deceased service member, if the person met certain criteria and the decedent had designated him or her to make decisions about the service member's remains according to a Federal law.


Subject to various exceptions, the Code lists the priority of individuals who are presumed to have the right and power to make decisions about funeral arrangements and the handling, disposition, or disinterment of a decedent's body, including decisions about cremation, and the right to possess cremated remains. The bill would make an additional exception to this provision.


Under the bill, if the decedent were a service member who had designated a person to direct disposition of his or her remains according to a statute of the United States or a regulation, policy, directive, or instruction of the U.S. Department of Defense, and if the designated person were the surviving spouse, an adult blood relative, or an adoptive relative of the decedent, or a person standing in loco parentis if the surviving spouse, adult blood relative, or adoptive relative could not be found, and the designated person were willing and able to exercise the rights and powers to make the decisions described above, he or she would have those rights and powers and the Code's list of individuals with priority would not apply.


The bill also would allow a funeral establishment to rely on the designation made by a service member.


MCL 700.3206 & 700.3209 Legislative Analyst: Suzanne Lowe

FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.


Date Completed: 9-15-10 Fiscal Analyst: Bill Bowerman

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. hb5850/0910