AB 832

Under current law, county departments of social services or human services

(county departments) pay cemetery, funeral, and burial expenses for decedents who,

during life, received certain public assistance benefits, such as Wisconsin Works

benefits or Medical Assistance benefits, and whose estates at death are insufficient

to pay those expenses. If an eligible a decedent's total funeral and burial expenses

do not exceed $3,500, a county department pays the lesser of $1,500 or the amount

not paid by the decedent's estate and other persons. The Department of Health

Services reimburses county departments for payments that the county departments

make for funeral and burial expenses from a general purpose revenue appropriation.

This bill increases the maximum funeral and burial expenses that obligate a

county department to contribute toward the cost. Under the bill, a county

department is not required to contribute toward a decedent's funeral and burial

expenses if the total funeral and burial expenses exceed $4,500, rather than $3,500.

The amount that a county department must contribute, however, remains at the

lesser of $1,500 or the amount not paid by the decedent's estate and other persons.