NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 891

SENATE BILL 869

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FUNDS FOR BURIAL OR TRANSPORTATION FOR BURIAL OF DECEASED MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  Chapter 90 of the General Statutes of North Carolina is hereby amended by adding a new Article 14B thereto to read as follows:

"ARTICLE 14B.

"Burial or Transportation for Burial of Deceased Migrant Farm Workers.

"§ 90-216.6.  Burial or transportation for burial of deceased migrant farm workers. — (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, any person having knowledge of the death of a migrant agricultural worker shall without delay report the fact of such death to the department of social services in the county in which the body is located together with any information he may possess respecting the deceased including his identity, place of employment, permanent residence, and the name, address and telephone number of any relative. The county department of social services shall within a reasonable time of receiving such report transmit to the Department of Human Resources notice of the death of the migrant agricultural worker and any information pertaining thereto. The Department of Human Resources shall, upon notification of the death of a migrant agricultural worker, make every reasonable effort to inform the nearest relative of said death.

(b)        In the event that the identity of the deceased migrant agricultural worker cannot be determined within a reasonable period of time, or in the event that the body of the deceased migrant agricultural worker is unclaimed seven days after death, or in the event that the estate or the relatives are unable to provide for the burial of said migrant agricultural worker, the Department of Human Resources is authorized, empowered, and directed to allocate a sum of not more than four hundred dollars ($400.00) for the burial of said worker.

Such funds for the burial of a deceased migrant agricultural worker shall be transmitted to the director of the department of social services in the county in which the body is located whose responsibility it shall be to provide for a suitable burial of said worker not to exceed four hundred dollars ($400.00) in expense.

(c)        In the event that the estate or the relatives of a deceased migrant agricultural worker are able to provide for the burial of the migrant agricultural worker but are unable to effect the transportation of the body of the deceased to his legal residence or the legal residence of the relatives, the Department of Human Resources is authorized, empowered, and directed to allocate a sum of not more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) to defray said transportation expenses.

Payments made from the funds appropriated under this subsection shall be made in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Human Resources.

For purposes of this Article, a migrant agricultural worker is any worker who moves in response to the demand for seasonal agricultural labor."

Sec. 2.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for fiscal year 1975‑1976 and the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for fiscal year 1976‑1977 for the purpose of defraying costs incurred under Section 1 of this act.

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day of June, 1975.