When the Arizona Legislature completed its work for its most recent session (adjournment was June 20), it had sent over four hundred new bills to Governor Napolitano for signature. The Governor vetoed twenty-two of those bills, and let one (dealing with so-called “fire islands”—areas in which no fire or emergency services are available) become law without signing it. The new laws range from protection for feral honeybee colonies to expansion of the criminal definition of aggravated assault. A mere handful of the new laws have any very direct effect on the elderly or those with disabilities.

One interesting new enactment, Chapter 94 of the Session Laws, addresses a set of problems we have written about before. Those who feel strongly about their own funeral and burial arrangements will be comforted to know that the legislature is interested in protecting individual autonomy in connection with this emotionally-charged issue.

Under current law (the new bill does not become effective until September 19, 2007) an individual may sign a document indicating his or her preference for cremation or burial. The decedent’s directions are supposed to be honored, unless they would impose an “economic or emotional hardship.” The law does not explain what “hardship” means in this context, nor does it make clear whose economic or emotional interests should be protected.

Once the new law becomes effective, however, individuals will have another step they can take to effect their wishes. Anyone wishing to do so will be able to designate the individual, organization or group who is to make the decision, and that designee will be empowered to authorize cremation, burial, scattering, release of ashes or whatever the document directs. Alternatively, the document can select the person to make the decision, without providing specific instructions or directions.

The appointment of a burial “agent” can be included in a health care power of attorney—alongside authority to consent to (or withhold consent for) organ donation after the patient’s death. Although as a strict legal matter powers of attorney end with the death of the principal, Arizona law now recognizes at least two exceptions to that longstanding principle.

The new law also codifies the priority list for burial arrangements for those who have not included burial authority in a health care power of attorney. The next person in the priority list can be skipped over if unavailable, or in some other circumstances, and the law provides for a mechanism to resolve disputes among relatives at the same level of relationship. It will be interesting to see how the new law affects burial and funeral arrangements in practice.

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