---
type: "Bill"
title: "Cremation of veterans with the United States flag."
description: "Existing law requires that a crematory knowingly cremate only human remains in cremation chambers, along with the cremation container, personal effects of the deceased, and no more than a negligible amount of chlorinated plastic pouches utilized for disease control when necessary. Existing law authorizes a crematory to incinerate one or more American flags under specified conditions, including when the flag is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display. Existing law requires a crematory that incinerates an American flag or flags to maintain an accurate record of all American flags incinerated, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 496"
citation: "California AB 496 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cremation of veterans with the United States flag."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chen"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2021-02-09"
last_action: "2021-07-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9edf02ca-afaa-43c5-a106-ccae35752aa2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB496"
source_hash: "a4a55342fcf99fa05ae806e1a463a73d95c65c44889c33bab97d1cacfa50780a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 496 (20212022) — Cremation of veterans with the United States flag.

Existing law requires that a crematory knowingly cremate only human remains in cremation chambers, along with the cremation container, personal effects of the deceased, and no more than a negligible amount of chlorinated plastic pouches utilized for disease control when necessary. Existing law authorizes a crematory to incinerate one or more American flags under specified conditions, including when the flag is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display. Existing law requires a crematory that incinerates an American flag or flags to maintain an accurate record of all American flags incinerated, as specified.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/09/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB496&version=20210AB49699INT)
2. **07/23/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB496&version=20210AB49697CHP)
3. **AB496** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB496)
4. **07/13/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB496&version=20210AB49698ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Military and Veterans Affairs] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar AB496 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 496 Chen Consent Calendar Second Day — **74–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chen — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-09** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-10** From printer. May be heard in committee March 12.
- **2021-02-18** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (March 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-24** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 863.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-05** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Coms. on B., P. & E.D. and M. & V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on M. & V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 7). Re-referred to Com. on M. & V.A. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-07-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1907.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-07-12** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-07-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 118, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9edf02ca-afaa-43c5-a106-ccae35752aa2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).