(a)
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)
There is a continuing need to provide for the respectful and cost-effective interment of human remains to meet the cultural, economic, religious, and social needs of California’s diverse communities.
(2)
The Legislature authorized the creation of public cemetery districts in 1909 to assume responsibility for the ownership, improvement, expansion, and operation of cemeteries and the provision of interment services from fraternal, pioneer, religious, social, and other organizations that were unable to provide for those cemeteries.
(3)
For nearly a century, public cemetery districts have provided communities with the means to publicly finance the ownership, improvement, expansion, and operation of public cemeteries and the provision of interment services, particularly in rural and formerly rural communities.
(4)
Interment customs and practices have changed since the creation of the public cemetery districts but communities continue to need the means to own, improve, expand, and operate public cemeteries that provide respectful and cost-effective interments.
(b)
In enacting this part, it is the intent of the Legislature to create and continue a broad statutory authority for a class of special districts that can own, improve, expand, and operate public cemeteries that provide respectful and cost-effective interments.
(c)
It is also the intent of the Legislature that local officials adapt the powers and procedures provided by this part to meet the diversity of local conditions and circumstances.