CALIFORNIA CODES
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 7050.5-7055
 
 
 
 
7050.5. (a) Every person who knowingly mutilates or disinters,
wantonly disturbs, or willfully removes any human remains in or from
any location other than a dedicated cemetery without authority of law
is guilty of a misdemeanor, except as provided in Section 5097.99 of
the Public Resources Code. The provisions of this subdivision shall
not apply to any person carrying out an agreement developed pursuant
to subdivision (l) of Section 5097.94 of the Public Resources Code
or to any person authorized to implement Section 5097.98 of the
Public Resources Code.
 (b) In the event of discovery or recognition of any human remains
in any location other than a dedicated cemetery, there shall be no
further excavation or disturbance of the site or any nearby area
reasonably suspected to overlie adjacent remains until the coroner of
the county in which the human remains are discovered has determined,
in accordance with Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 27460) of
Part 3 of Division 2 of Title 3 of the Government Code, that the
remains are not subject to the provisions of Section 27491 of the
Government Code or any other related provisions of law concerning
investigation of the circumstances, manner and cause of any death,
and the recommendations concerning the treatment and disposition of
the human remains have been made to the person responsible for the
excavation, or to his or her authorized representative, in the manner
provided in Section 5097.98 of the Public Resources Code. The
coroner shall make his or her determination within two working days
from the time the person responsible for the excavation, or his or
her authorized representative, notifies the coroner of the discovery
or recognition of the human remains.
 (c) If the coroner determines that the remains are not subject to
his or her authority and if the coroner recognizes the human remains
to be those of a Native American, or has reason to believe that they
are those of a Native American, he or she shall contact, by telephone
within 24 hours, the Native American Heritage Commission.
 
 
 
 
7051. Every person who removes any part of any human remains from
any place where it has been interred, or from any place where it is
deposited while awaiting interment or cremation, with intent to sell
it or to dissect it, without authority of law, or written permission
of the person or persons having the right to control the remains
under Section 7100, or with malice or wantonness, has committed a
public offense that is punishable by imprisonment in the state
prison.
 This section shall not prohibit the removal of foreign materials,
pacemakers, or prostheses from cremated remains by an employee of a
licensed crematory prior to final processing of ashes. Dental gold
or silver, jewelry, or mementos, to the extent that they can be
identified, may be removed by the employee prior to final processing
if the equipment is such that it will not process these materials.
However, any dental gold and silver, jewelry, or mementos that are
removed shall be returned to the urn or cremated remains container,
unless otherwise directed by the person or persons having the right
to control the disposition.
 
 
7051.5. Every person who removes or possesses dental gold or
silver, jewelry, or mementos from any human remains without specific
written permission of the person or persons having the right to
control those remains under Section 7100 is punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison. The fact that residue and any
unavoidable dental gold or dental silver, or other precious metals
remain in the cremation chamber or other equipment or any container
used in a prior cremation is not a violation of this section.
 
 
 
7052. Every person who willfully mutilates, disinters, or removes
from the place of interment any human remains, without authority of
law, is guilty of a felony. This section does not apply to any
person who, under authority of law, removes the remains for
reinterment, or performs a cremation.
 
 
 
7052.5. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 7052, cremated
remains may be removed from the place of interment for disposition as
provided in Section 7054.6 or for burial at sea as provided in
Section 7117.
 
 
7053. Every person who arrests, attaches, detains, or claims to
detain any human remains for any debt or demand, or upon any
pretended lien or charge, or fails to release any human remains
forthwith upon the delivery of authorization for such release signed
by the next of kin or by any person entitled to the custody of such
remains, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
 
 
 
7054. (a) Except as authorized pursuant to the sections referred to
in subdivision (b), every person who deposits or disposes of any
human remains in any place, except in a cemetery, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
 (b) Cremated remains may be disposed of pursuant to Sections 7116,
7117, and 103060, or Sections 7054.6 and 103060.
 (c) Subdivision (a) of this section shall not apply to the
reburial of Native American remains under an agreement developed
pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 5097.94 of the Public
Resources Code, or implementation of a recommendation or agreement
made pursuant to Section 5097.98 of the Public Resources Code.
 
 
 
 
7054.1. No cremated remains shall be removed from the place of
cremation, nor shall there be any charge for the cremation, unless
the cremated remains have been processed so that they are suitable
for inurnment within a cremated remains container or an urn. Every
contract for cremation services shall include specific written
notification of the processing to the person having the right to
control the disposition of the remains under Section 7100.
 
 
 
7054.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a recognizable
dead human fetus of less than 20 weeks uterogestation not disposed of
by interment shall be disposed of by incineration.
 
 
 
7054.4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, recognizable
anatomical parts, human tissues, anatomical human remains, or
infectious waste following conclusion of scientific use shall be
disposed of by interment, incineration, or any other method
determined by the state department to protect the public health and
safety.
 As used in this section, "infectious waste" means any material or
article which has been, or may have been, exposed to contagious or
infectious disease.
 
 
 
7054.5. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 7054, cremated
remains may be buried at sea as provided in Section 7117 of this
code.
 
 
7054.6. Cremated remains may be removed in a durable container from
the place of cremation or interment and kept in the dwelling owned
or occupied by the person having the right to control disposition of
the remains under Section 7100, or the durable container holding the
cremated remains may be kept in a church or religious shrine, if
written permission of the church or religious shrine is obtained and
there is no conflict with local use permit requirements or zoning
laws, if the removal is under the authority of a permit for
disposition granted under Section 103060. The placement, in any
place, of six or more cremated remains under this section does not
constitute the place a cemetery, as defined in Section 8100.
 
 
 
 
7054.7. (a) Except with the express written permission of the
person entitled to control the disposition of the remains, no person
shall:
 (1) Cremate the remains of more than one person at the same time
in the same cremation chamber, or introduce the remains of a second
person into a cremation chamber until incineration of any preceding
remains has been terminated and reasonable efforts have been employed
to remove all fragments of the preceding remains. The fact that
there is residue in the cremation chamber or other equipment or any
container used in a prior cremation is not a violation of this
section.
  (2) Dispose of or scatter cremated remains in a manner or in a
location that the remains are commingled with those of another
person. This paragraph shall not apply to the scattering of cremated
remains at sea from individual containers or to the disposal in a
dedicated cemetery of accumulated residue removed from a cremation
chamber or other cremation equipment.
 (3) Place cremated or uncremated remains of more than one person
in the same container or the same interment space. This paragraph
shall not apply to the following:
 (A) Interment of members of the same family in a common container
designed for the cremated remains of more than one person.
 (B) Interment in a space or container that has been previously
designated at the time of sale as being intended for the interment of
remains of more than one person.
 (C) Disposal in a dedicated cemetery of residue removed from a
cremation chamber or other cremation equipment.
 (b) Written acknowledgement from the person entitled to control
the disposition of the cremated remains shall be obtained by the
person with whom arrangements are made for disposition of the remains
on a form that includes, but is not limited to, the following
information: "The human body burns with the casket, container, or
other material in the cremation chamber. Some bone fragments are not
combustible at the incineration temperature and, as a result, remain
in the cremation chamber. During the cremation, the contents of the
chamber may be moved to facilitate incineration. The chamber is
composed of ceramic or other material which disintegrates slightly
during each cremation and the product of that disintegration is
commingled with the cremated remains. Nearly all of the contents of
the cremation chamber, consisting of the cremated remains,
disintegrated chamber material, and small amounts of residue from
previous cremations, are removed together and crushed, pulverized, or
ground to facilitate inurnment or scattering. Some residue remains
in the cracks and uneven places of the chamber. Periodically, the
accumulation of this residue is removed and interred in a dedicated
cemetery property, or scattered at sea." The acknowledgment shall be
filed and retained, for at least five years, by the person who
disposes of or inters the remains.
 (c) Any person, including any corporation or partnership,
knowingly violating any provision of this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
 
 
7055. Every person, who for himself or herself or for another
person, inters or incinerates a body or permits the same to be done,
or removes any remains, other than cremated remains, from the primary
registration district in which the death or incineration occurred or
the body was found, except a removal by a funeral director in a
funeral director's conveyance or an officer of a duly accredited
medical college engaged in official duties with respect to the body
of a decedent who has willfully donated his or her body to the
medical college from that registration district or county to another
registration district or county, or within the same registration
district or county, without the authority of a burial or removal
permit issued by the local registrar of the district in which the
death occurred or in which the body was found; or removes interred
human remains from the cemetery in which the interment occurred, or
removes cremated remains from the premises on which the cremation
occurred without the authority of a removal permit is guilty of a
misdemeanor and punishable as follows:
 (a) For the first offense, by a fine of not less than ten dollars
($10) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500).
 (b) For each subsequent offense, by a fine of not less than fifty
dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) or
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 60 days, or by
both.