54.1-2313 - Board; appointment; terms; vacancies; meetings; quorum; other powers; regulations. - Virginia Statutes

§ 54.1-2313. Board; appointment; terms; vacancies; meetings; quorum; otherpowers; regulations.

A. The Cemetery Board shall consist of seven members to be appointed by theGovernor as follows: four cemetery operators who have operated a cemetery inthe Commonwealth for at least five consecutive years immediately prior toappointment, no more than two of whom shall be affiliated with a cemeterycompany incorporated in the Commonwealth which is owned, operated oraffiliated, directly or indirectly, with a foreign corporation; onerepresentative of local government, and two citizen members. Appointments tothe Board shall generally represent the geographical areas of theCommonwealth.

B. All appointments shall be for terms of four years, except that appointmentto fill vacancies shall be for the unexpired terms. No person shall beeligible to serve for more than two successive four-year terms.

C. The Board shall annually elect a chairman and a vice-chairman from amongits members. The Board shall hold at least two meetings each year and maymeet as often as its duties require. Four members shall constitute a quorum.

D. In addition to the general powers and duties conferred in this subtitle,the Board shall have the power and duty to (i) regulate preneed burialcontracts and perpetual care trust fund accounts as prescribed by thischapter, including, but not limited to, the authority to prescribe preneedcontract forms, disclosure requirements and disclosure forms and to requirereasonable bonds to insure performance of preneed contracts, (ii) regulateand register sales personnel employed by a cemetery company, and (iii)regulate and establish qualifications and standards of conduct for complianceagents employed by a cemetery company to assure compliance of the cemeterywith the provisions of this chapter.

E. In addition to such other regulations the Board deems appropriate, theBoard shall adopt regulations which provide:

1. A method for executing, at-need, a preneed burial contract, including thepetitioning a court of competent jurisdiction for the appointment of areceiver, where a licensee who is a party to such preneed burial contract hashad his license to operate a cemetery revoked or suspended for violation ofthis chapter or Board regulations; and

2. Consumer protections which are consistent with those provisions of theFederal Trade Commission Funeral Rules which the Board finds may beappropriately applied to cemetery companies.

(1998, cc. 708, 721; 2004, c. 247; 2010, c. 91.)