A bill before the New Hampshire Senate that would require mausoleums to operate under the same laws as cemeteries is a good one. As people who have deceased loved ones at rest in a Salem mausoleum learned last year to their regret, the state right now lacks sufficient oversight of such facilities.

Last year, about 10 people with loved ones buried at the Eternal Light Memorial in Salem filed complaints about the condition of the facility. Water was leaking through a skylight, damaging the ceiling and floor and filling the mausoleum with a disconcerting stench. Many of those who had purchased crypts at the facility had 10 percent of the price paid deposited in a maintenance trust fund. Yet those who filed complaints said the money was not being used for repairs as promised.

The Pond Street facility, which houses the remains of about 250 people, is the only privately owned, for-profit mausoleum in the state. The mausoleum, owned by Andrew Grasso, opened in 1974.

State officials did not even know the mausoleum existed before the complaints were filed. Grasso had never registered with the state or filed the required financial paperwork. Since the complaints were filed, Grasso has updated his paperwork and performed some maintenance on the building. But the state took no punitive action against Eternal Light.

The update to state cemetery law under consideration in the Senate would include mausoleums under the definition of "cemeteries" and require that private facilities be operated as nonprofit corporations.

The bill's sponsors acknowledge that it will not change the operation of Eternal Light Memorial, but will prevent similar for-profit facilities from opening in the future.

Few issues are more emotional than the treatment of a loved one's remains. It is important that facilities for the storage of human remains fall under some level of state regulation both for this reason and for the protection of public health.