AB 2542, Marissa’s Law, awaits the Governor’s decision
The bill would move the right to control a person's disposition away from someone under a domestic violence restraining order protecting the deceased.
AB 2542 (Patterson), which may be cited as Marissa’s Law, amends Health and Safety Code section 7100, the statute that sets who controls the disposition of a person’s remains.
Under the bill, the right of control passes to the next person in the statutory order when the person who would hold it was subject to a domestic violence restraining order protecting the deceased at the time of death. It also passes when the person is a parent of the deceased and giving that parent control would have been contrary to the decedent’s best interests. The bill gives funeral directors and cemetery authorities authority to release remains to the next of kin in those cases.
The Assembly concurred in Senate amendments 75 to 0. The bill was presented to the Governor on September 15.