HB 5999 Summary

• Creates the Michigan COVID-19 Funerary Assistance Fund within the state treasury to provide burial and cremation cost assistance for deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2 infections.

• Eligible survivors must have household income below 200% of federal poverty guidelines for a household of 3 individuals, with inheritance from the deceased excluded from income calculations.

• Covers eligible expenses including burial plots, caskets, cremation, funerary urns, mortuary preparation, transportation to burial sites or crematoria, and costs for federally recognized Indian tribe funerary rites.

• Excludes transportation of deceased individuals to or from other states or countries from eligible reimbursable costs.

• If a survivor declines to pay for burial or cremation, the state assumes responsibility under existing indigent burial statutes, rules, or policies and must notify the survivor of the burial site.