Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H195 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3735 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 195
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	James Arciero
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act relative to state assistance for funeral expenses.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:James Arciero2nd Middlesex1/17/2025James DolanChelmsford1/17/2025 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3735 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 195
18	18	By Representative Arciero of Westford, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 195) of
19	19	James Arciero and James Dolan relative to state assistance for funeral expenses. Children,
20	20	Families and Persons with Disabilities.
21	21	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22	22	_______________
23	23	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
24	24	(2025-2026)
25	25	_______________
26	26	An Act relative to state assistance for funeral expenses.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
28	28	of the same, as follows:
29	29	1 SECTION 1 Section 9 of chapter 117A of the General Laws, as appearing in the
30	30	22016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 10 and 11, the words "and final
31	31	3disposition does not exceed $3,500" and inserting in place thereof the following words:-
32	32	4establishment excluding non-funeral establishment charges (cash advances) does not exceed
33	33	5$7,000.
34	34	6 SECTION 2 Section 9 of chapter 117A of the General Laws, as appearing in the
35	35	72016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in
36	36	8place thereof the following sentence:-
37	37	9 The commonwealth may recover this expense from any legally liable family members in
38	38	10the manner provided in this chapter, and if such family members do not pay this expense, the
39	39	11commonwealth shall pay an amount not exceeding $2,000 to the funeral establishment if the total
40	40	12expense of the funeral and final disposition does not exceed $7,000, excluding cash advance 2 of 3
41	41	13items for services not directly provided by the funeral establishment and not included on the
42	42	14general price list.
43	43	15 SECTION 3. Chapter 117A of the General Laws is hereby amended inserting after
44	44	16section 10 the following section:-
45	45	17 Section 11. The Department of Transitional Assistance shall promulgate regulations
46	46	18applicable to the payment of funeral and final disposition expenses as pursuant to section 9 of
47	47	19chapter 117A, section 2 of chapter 118, and section 7 of chapter 118A to exclude cash advance
48	48	20items for services not directly provided by the funeral establishment and not included on the
49	49	21general price list from the calculation of the total expense of said funeral and final disposition.
50	50	22 Funeral establishments shall include a general price list for services offered on their
51	51	23website in order to receive full payment or reimbursement from agencies and offices of the
52	52	24Commonwealth including, but not limited to the department of transitional assistance.
53	53	25 SECTION 4. The third paragraph of Section 2 of chapter 118 of the General Laws is
54	54	26hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following
55	55	27sentence:-
56	56	28 The department may pay a sum not exceeding $2,000 toward the funeral and final
57	57	29disposition of a recipient to the funeral establishment if there are insufficient resources to pay for
58	58	30the cost of such funeral and final disposition and if the total expense of the funeral and final
59	59	31disposition does not exceed $7,000, excluding cash advance items for services not directly
60	60	32provided by the funeral establishment and not included on the general price list. 3 of 3
61	61	33 SECTION 5. Section 7 of chapter 118A of the General Laws is hereby amended by
62	62	34striking the third sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-
63	63	35 The department may pay a sum not exceeding $2,000 toward the funeral and final
64	64	36disposition of a recipient to a funeral establishment if there are insufficient resources to pay for
65	65	37the cost of such funeral and final disposition and if the total expense of the funeral and final
66	66	38disposition does not exceed $7,000, excluding cash advance items for services not directly
67	67	39provided by the funeral establishment and not included on the general price list.