Creates Michigan's first regulatory framework for pet cemeteries — requiring recordkeeping for burial and preneed agreements, a special (perpetual-care) fund, preneed-sales protections, and consumer disclosures, with penalties for violations.
Legislative status
Senate Bill 157 would create Michigan's first regulatory framework for pet cemeteries — recordkeeping for burial and preneed agreements, a special perpetual-care fund, preneed-sales protections, and consumer disclosures, with penalties for violations. It regulates pet cemeteries, not human funeral or cremation operations, but shares the perpetual-care and preneed concepts operators already know. It passed the Senate on a close 19-18 vote and now awaits action in the House Committee on Regulatory Reform.
Key provisions
What this means for operators
Directly affects cemetery operators with pet-burial sections or mixed-use grounds; human-only funeral and cremation operations are not regulated by this bill, but it signals how Michigan may extend perpetual-care and preneed rules.
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We run a pet-burial section, so SB 157 is on our radar. Baseline rules — recordkeeping, a perpetual-care fund, preneed protections — are reasonable and overdue. Our position is support, but we want the compliance timeline for small mixed-use operators spelled out before it clears the House.