Antony Antolini, president of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine, urged passage.
“The choice may not be for everyone, but it should be available,” he said.
A Dresden resident, Emily Estes, said her town “offers an ideal location for an open-air pyre.”
“We honor the sanctity of life in our town and greatly appreciate the quality of life we have,” Estes said. “It is in our town’s highest good to offer others a chance to pay tribute to their loved ones in a thoughtful, respectful and intimate manner.”
Sarah Gillespie, a Lewiston chaplain, told lawmakers that “one of the things I treasure about our state is the freedom it provides Mainers to live on their own terms. No one can tell a Mainer what to do.”