TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg issued the following statement on the governor’s conditional veto of legislation she sponsored to ensure fairness for religious or charitable organizations that provide assistance to their members in their greatest time of need, by providing burial plots for those who have passed. The bill (S1146/A2619) would exclude certain conveyances of graves, crypt and niches from the 15% fee that cemetery companies currently charge. The governor’s conditional veto, issued last week, specifies that the exemption would apply to corporations or associations organized not for profit exclusively for religious or charitable purposes.

“To help ease this burden on their members, some religious organizations purchase areas of land and provide a plot when an individual passes. Unfortunately, current law requires the organization to pay a fee on the land both when it is purchased and when the plot is provided.

“The governor’s recommendations are reasonable and I look forward to moving forward with the legislation. This measure will clarify that religious organizations are not obligated to pay a fee each time a plot is transferred. …I would like to thank the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, as well as Rabbis Shammai Engelmayer, Steven Sirbu and Neil Borovitz for their work on this issue.”