August 2019 Bar Bulletin
By Sherry Bosse Lueders
Last May, Gov. Jay Inslee made headlines when he signed into law a bill “concerning human remains” (otherwise known as Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5001).1 ESSB 5001 made Washington the first state in the nation — and possibly the first jurisdiction in the world2 — to pass legislation legalizing human composting as a means of final disposition of human remains. The new law goes into effect on May 1, 2020.
While much of the attention about the bill focused on human composting, ESSB 5001 actually legalizes two new methods for disposing human remains in Washington: natural organic...