Section 1506-C. Abandoned cemetery maintenance by cemetery corporations

(a)  Upon  application  and approval by the cemetery board, a cemetery
  corporation may  assume  management  and  maintenance  of  an  abandoned
  cemetery.  For  the purposes of this section, abandoned cemetery means a
  cemetery which was previously owned by a cemetery corporation  organized
  pursuant  to  this  chapter  or  existing  by  virtue  of the membership
  corporation law, for which there no longer exists any corporate board or
  body to maintain it, and for which there is no sufficient trust fund  or
  endowment  to  provide  ordinary  and  necessary  care  and maintenance.
  Provided, however, that in no event shall the cemetery board approve the
  assumption of the management and maintenance of  an  abandoned  cemetery
  under  this  section  if  the abandoned cemetery was affiliated with any
  religious denomination or tradition or if the majority  of  the  persons
  whose  bodies  were  interred  in such cemetery were affiliated with any
  religious denomination or tradition unless  the  cemetery  assuming  the
  management  and  maintenance  of  such  abandoned  cemetery  follows the
  customs and practices of the same religious denomination or tradition.
    (b) A cemetery corporation assuming management and maintenance  of  an
  abandoned   cemetery  shall  make  application  for  funds  pursuant  to
  paragraph (h) of section fifteen  hundred  seven  of  this  article  and
  section  ninety-seven-r  of  the  state  finance  law for maintenance of
  abandoned cemeteries. Within sixty days of  submission  of  a  completed
  application, the cemetery board shall approve or deny such application.
    (c)  Monies  disbursed under such assumption shall be used exclusively
  for the purpose of  the  management  and  maintenance  of  an  abandoned
  cemetery  such  as  the  ordinary  and  necessary  care  of  a cemetery,
  including the removal of grass and weeds, the refilling of  graves,  and
  the  preservation,  care,  and fencing of a cemetery, and also including
  the care of crypts, niches, grave sites, monuments, and  memorials  paid
  for  by  means of the general fund or special fund or the income applied
  from the permanent  maintenance  fund,  perpetual  care  fund,  monument
  maintenance  fund,  general  fund,  or  a  special fund of the abandoned
  cemetery.
    (d) Any residual funds disbursed to a cemetery corporation  after  the
  maintenance of an abandoned cemetery has been performed must be returned
  to  the  cemetery  board for redeposit into the state cemetery vandalism
  restoration,  monument  repair  or  removal  and   administration   fund
  established by section ninety-seven-r of the state finance law.
    (e)  Within  ninety days of its receipt of disbursements, the cemetery
  corporation shall make a report to  the  cemetery  board  setting  forth
  details  of  the  maintenance  and clean-up undertaken and the amount of
  funds, if any, to be redeposited into the fund. If the  maintenance  and
  clean-up  have  not  been completed, or necessary equipment has not been
  purchased, the reasons therefor shall be set forth, and the  anticipated
  date for a subsequent, final report shall be disclosed.
    * NB Effective October 25, 2009