New Jersey S 4382: The "Family and Private Burial Grounds Preservation Act."

Bill Text

S4382 

SENATE, No. 4382 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

INTRODUCED JUNE 1, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� JOSEPH F. VITALE

District 19 (Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

���� The "Family and Private Burial Grounds 
Preservation Act." 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� As introduced.

�� 

An Act concerning the preservation of family or private 
burial grounds, supplementing Title 40 of the Revised Statutes, and amending 
P.L.2003, c.261.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� (New section)� Sections 
1 through 14 of 
P.L. , c. (C. ) 
(pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be known and may be cited 
as the �Family and Private Burial Grounds Preservation Act.�

���� 2.��� (New section)� As used 
in P.L.��� , c.�� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� �Burial objects� means any 
items or artifacts directly associated with human burials, which items or 
artifacts were intentionally deposited in an interment space as a part of a 
mortuary ritual at the time of interment.

���� �Cemetery� means the same as 
that term is defined in section 2 of the �New Jersey Cemetery Act, 2003,� 
P.L.2003, c.261 (C.45:27-2).

���� �Cemetery company� means a 
nonprofit corporation, a for-profit corporation, partnership, association, or 
other private entity, or any other individual or entity that directly or 
indirectly owns, manages, operates or controls a cemetery, and which corporation, 
partnership, association, entity, or individual has been authorized to manage 
or operate the cemetery pursuant to a certificate of authority issued by the 
New Jersey Cemetery Board pursuant to the �New Jersey Cemetery Act, 2003,� 
P.L.2003, c.261 (C.45:27-1 et seq.).

���� �Department� means the 
Department of Environmental Protection.

���� �Relative� means a family 
member, blood or marriage relation, descendant, or individual in the line of 
ancestry of a person, and includes the person�s parents, children, siblings, 
grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, aunts, 
uncles, nieces, and nephews.

���� �Disturb� or �disturbance� 
means any activity that significantly harms the character, condition, or 
physical integrity of a family or private burial ground.

���� �Economic benefit� means:� (a) 
savings gained, and that may be realized, from avoided burial ground 
maintenance costs; (b) investment returns earned, and that may be earned, on 
the amount of avoided burial ground maintenance costs; (c) investment and resale 
value gained, and that may be realized, from an increase in the usability of 
land on which the burial ground is located, or from

an improvement of the aesthetics 
thereof; and (d) any other financial benefit gained, and that may be realized, 
from a violation of section 4 or 5 of P.L.��� , c.�� (C.������� or C.������� ) 
(pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� �Family or private burial 
ground� or �burial ground� means a cemetery into which the human skeletal 
remains of two or more persons have been intentionally deposited, and the 
location of which has been clearly identified through the intentional placement 
of stone tablets, markers, or tombstones, fencing, memorial stones or statues, 
or through some other obvious means, and which cemetery (1) is not owned or 
operated by a government entity, by a religious corporation or organization, or 
by a cemetery company that has received authorization to operate pursuant to 
the provisions of the �New Jersey Cemetery Act, 2003,� P.L.2003, c.261 
(C.45:27-1 et seq.), and (2) is located on a parcel of land that has never been 
used for the purpose of public burials.� �Family or private burial ground� or �burial 
ground� shall not include a crematory, as defined in section 2 of P.L.2003, 
c.261 (C.45:27-2).

���� �Human skeletal remains� or 
�remains� means a body, or part of a body, of a deceased human being, or the 
recoverable human bone fragments resulting from the process of cremation.

���� �Interment space� means a 
grave, or a tomb, crypt, or some other similarly-purposed structure, whether 
originally situated below, on, or above the surface of the ground, into which 
the human skeletal remains of a deceased person have been intentionally deposited 
as a part of death rites, rituals, or ceremonies.

���� �Maintenance and preservation� 
means all of the activities undertaken to uphold or sustain the character, 
condition, and physical integrity of a family or private burial ground, and 
includes the ordinary care and upkeep of the burial ground.� 

���� �Permanent disinterment� means 
the dismantling of a family or private burial ground and the permanent removal 
therefrom of all human skeletal remains and burial objects, memorial structures 
and markers, crypts or other moveable interment spaces contained therein, and 
fences, railings, or other structures bounding the same, which permanent 
removal has been authorized by the de