PROVIDENCE − Will 2024 be the year that Rhode Island joins seven other states in allowing natural organic reduction, also known as human composting, as an alternative to cremation and burial?

For the second year in a row, Rep. Michelle McGaw, D-Portsmouth, introduced legislation (H 7212) to allow the practice that turns human remains, over a relatively short period of time, into nutrient-rich soil.

Last year, McGaw introduced two bills that would have allowed natural organic reduction – which is the nice way of describing the accelerated decomposition of bodies – alongside cremation and traditional burials, both with and without embalming.

2023 primer: Could human composting come to Rhode Island? Here’s what a new bill would allow.

This year, McGaw said during a hearing on Feb. 14 that she made a few tweaks as requested by the Department of Health, but it is almost the same as the second bill she introduced last year, following input from funeral directors and the state.

Does the bill have a better shot this year?

Last year, McGaw said she introduced the bill to start a conversation. At the time, six states had passed bills to legalize the practice, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Vermont and California. In California, the practice will not be allowed to begin until 2027. Since then, a seventh state has joined the list. Nevada legalized the practice during its 2023 legislative session.

During the hearing in front of the House Committee on Corporations, McGaw said the positive response to her bill was “overwhelming” when she introduced it last year.

“I heard so much from people across the state, that this was an option they would,” she said. “What I did was, I reworked the bill from last year.”

In an interview, McGaw said she made minor “technical” changes to the second bill she introduced last year.

“I feel like we’re in a much better place, having worked through the language, and after conversations with the Department of Health, they seem comfortable with the approach we’ve taken and the way it’s worded,” she said.

McGaw said she worked with the Department of Health over the summer, providing them information on how states already regulate the practice and what would be required.

This year, the bill has a Senate sponsor, Sen. Tiara Mack, D-Providence.

“I’m trying to be optimistic this year, but you never know what moves out of committee,” she said.

For this hearing, only one comment was received, from Stacey Capizzano of Providence.

“It is an undignified way to treat a deceased person, to honor their life,” Capizzano wrote in an email.

Last year, many letters of support were submitted for the bill, noting that the state should not encroach on religious liberty to have one’s remains disposed of as they think is right.

Timothy Riker of Pawtucket wrote in 2023 that he wants to return his body to the ecosystem in “a way that sustains it” once he dies.

Last year’s debate: Will human composting be allowed in RI? Here’s what supporters say.

How much would it cost?

One funeral director in Las Vegas, where it became legal this year, estimated a price tag of $8,000 to $10,000, compared to the average national cost of a viewing and burial, $7,848 and cremation, $6,970, according to an article in the Las Vegas Sun.

What is human composting?

One of the handful of businesses to offer the process, Earth Funeral in Auburn, Washington, started a year ago. Their process takes about 30 days, leaving behind a cubic yard of rich soil and some bones that are ground into powder, just like with cremation, spokeswoman Haley Morris said in 2023.

Where do religions stand on the practice?

The Catholic Church relaxed its prohibition against cremation in 1963 but also maintained it has an “adverse attitude” toward the practice, favoring burial, while Judaism also requires burial, as does Islam.

“Sky burials,” where a body is left in an elevated location exposed to the elements – and predators – is a Buddhist practices and a Zoroastrian practice, while cremation is generally a Hindu practice.

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Human composting in Rhode Island is back up for debate. Should it be legal?